Going Blind and Crazy- where are my photo experts?

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Posted By: jamie

Picked up this baseball cabinet photograph:


It measures about 7x10 (counting the mount which is very thick cardboard). An unusual measurement which did little to help identify it. I took a hi-res scan in an effort to help date it a little better.







It's definitely an albumen and not a silver gelatin print.

I can make out wire catchers' masks, what looks like a horse cart in the background and a style of dress that all seem to me to point to 1870's- early 1880's (bibbed shirts, knickers, painter's caps). Does this seem like fair estimate?

Now here's the part I've been going back and forth on. I initially thought this was just a local team but the fellas on the left all seem to be wearing matching uniforms- right down to the belts, shirts, hats, and shoes. These seems pretty ambitious and extravagant for a local team or am I completely off?

And the last part of my little puzzle is this player:


The resolution is obviously not the greatest and he's shading his face, but am I crazy or is he black?

Finally, I'm really interested in getting this piece restored. What's the take on photographic restoration? Is it as taboo as card restoration?

Thanks in advance- I'm always appreciative of the knowledge this board has to share and offer.

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Posted By: barrysloate

The player does look black but you are right, the resolution isn't great. Restoration is accepted in photography, especially when the mount is in such bad shape. A conservator would probably remove the photograph and have it remounted on an acid free back. And your date of late 1870's-1880 looks pretty accurate. Very nice image, even if it is a tad light.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

My guess is that this is actually two teams...it would be unusual for the time to have 20 men on one team....the team on the left is probably an organized traveling team (nice matching uniforms -can almost make out the name on the belt) -the team on the right is probably a local rag-tag team. I think this photo is probably 1880s.

Great photo....I think you should definitely have it remounted.

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Posted By: Jimmy Leiderman

I think it's late 1880's if not 1890's.
It's pretty hard to put a date on town team images because their uniforms and equipment are almost always of low quality and outdated.

I would try to digitally restore and colorize the image rather than actually restoring it.


If you want to give it a try with the digital restoration and colorization, shoot me an email and I will give you some contacts.

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Posted By: BobW

Very nice photo.
I played with it to try and bring up some of the details with Photoshop.Hope it helps.
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Posted By: steve f

Really nice picture. Could you try shining a bright light from the mount side to see if there's any text on photo back?

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Posted By: jamie

barry and dan- thanks guys- nice to know all marbles have not yet departed my arena. ill check out the belts a little more closely for any markers- i hadnt even though of that.

bob- thanks so much for cleaning those up. whatever you did in photoshop really cleared up the images tremendously.

steve- i tried shining a light through the mount but the cardboard is just too thick.

jimmy- there is a local service that will create a nice digital image (colorized if you'd like) of your photos. i hadnt thought of that as a possibility

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Posted By: ramram

I concur with Jimmy L and I also agree that I think it is a black ballplayer. Not that it helps much...but...if he is a black ballplayer you can certainly rule out that the team is from the South.

Rob M.

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Posted By: anthony

what a dumb-a*s photographer! why didn't he have 3 rows of 6 and 7? he could of got a little closer too....i think if these photographers knew how important their photos were going to be a 100+ years later, they would of took a class...

when in doubt, keep it!