I picked up this 1891 Cedar Rapids Canaries cabinet from the latest LOTG auction. McGraw was already identified but no other players were and I finally got around to figuring out a couple others.
- The first player, at the close end, is Bill "Wiz" Hoffer, who ended up having a few very good to great years pitching for the Baltimore Orioles, 1895 to 1898.
- Second in is an 18-year-old John McGraw. Having this cabinet in hand and being able to optimize scans etc I'm just about 100% confident this is him. Anyway, he'd be in Baltimore a few months after this photo was taken.
- The third guy in is Henry Fabian, who eventually became well known as the groundskeeper at the Polo Grounds, a job he would hold from 1913 until the time he died in 1940. I've always thought Fabian to be a compelling baseball story, so finding him in the photo is pretty cool.
I'm going to try to ID a few more guys further down the bench, but it'll be harder as details get smaller.
Click through for larger scans:
