Collecting Photos for Possible Book

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Posted By: Jason C

Hello-
My name is Jason and this is my first day browsing through this forum. Let me just say "wow". I am completely and totally out of my league. The things you folks pass off as nothing I view as gold. I am so glad to be able just to interact with you.

I'm not quite sure if this is fair game or not, but I was inspired by a photo of a Tom Nagle card on the main site so I thought I would ask. If this isn't okay, please delete the post.

I've written the captions for a photographic history book of baseball in Eau Claire, WI. Most of the focus at the time was the Northern League entry from 1933-1962. Now I am very much getting into the pre WWI teams from Eau Claire. There were quite a few major leaguers that either came through Eau Claire on the way up or, more commonly, were on the way down after the bigs. I'm now in the process of putting together a complete history of baseball in Eau Claire, and I would like to put faces to names. Below is a list of pre WWI Eau Claire players that also played in the majors. I was wondering if you could either post here or maybe arrange offline to send me some images of the cards of these players? I'm considering putting all of this together in a book (likely self-published and probably will sell 10 copies), so please be sure to include your name as well so you can be properly credited. Also, please give the type of the card (since I can't identify them just yet). The book is just a pipe dream for now, however, and I'm mainly just looking for the images. Any card will do, and regular photos would be wonderful as well.

Here is the list:
BurdickWilliam
Nagle Tom
Sullivan Pat
Behel Stephen
Bishop Frank
Cahill John (I have a couple images of his cards)
Crothers Douglas
DillionPackard Andrew "Packy"
Dougherty Charles
Handiboe James
Ingraham Charles
Levis Charles
Lowe Robert "Bobby"
McKeever James
Peak Elias
Quest Joseph
ReardonJeremiah
ReilleyCharles
Weckbecker Peter
Asmussen Tom
Ryan John
Skopec John
Fiske Max
Dexter Charles
Kading Jack
Callahan Dave
Chappell Larry
GregoryFrank
Hemphill Frank
Grimes Burleigh(looking maybe for more rare cards of him)
There's also Johnny Mostil, who managed in the Northern League. I'd like some images of him as well, though I have some photos of him with Eau Claire in the 30s.

So very sorry for the long post. I'm hopeful it's okay to publish, and I'm looking forward to being on the board more as I learn from the pros.

Take care, and thanks a lot!

Jason Christopherson
"Baseball in Eau Claire"

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Posted By: Anonymous

Jason-
A couple of obvious ones would be Kading and Lowe. I have a T212 Obak (1911) of Kading (as a NWL Seattle Giant). I don't have a scan at hand but I would bet that one or another N54er can post one, and an Old Judge Lowe, too. Some of our guys are walking baseball encyclopedias and if there are cards of your Eau Claire roster they are going to know it so persevere.
Good luck on your endeavour. You will sell at least one copy because I am going to buy it. Will it be an Arcadia book as well? (Any of you on the Board who are not familiar with Arcadia Publishing should check it out. They produce books about local and regional U.S. history, typically comprising 200 captioned black-and-white photos and typically $19.95. I have half-a-dozen or so of their baseball books and many more of their "town" books. Wonderful stuff).
http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/ (Arcadia home page)
http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc? (Arcadia list of baseball related books)

David McD.




If can, can; if no can, no can.

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Posted By: Jeff O

Jason - David is correct about Arcadia. They love to publish regional sports books, and I think you'd be surprised how many copies they could sell.

Arcadia published my book, Hockey in Seattle, a few years back. They typically do print runs of around 2,000 copies, and to date they have sold about 1,000 copies of my book.

The great thing about Arcadia is that they leave a lot of the layout up to you, and the only "costs" you are responsible for are any licensing/rights fees that need to be paid for use of the photos in the book. You'd need about 180-220 pictures to do a book with Arcadia, and most of the text is in the form of long (100 to 300 word) photo captions. You can also expect to earn about $1 per book sold in royalties.

Jeff

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Posted By: Jason C

Thanks for the info. My first book was, in fact, by Arcadia. I'm not so sure they would be interested in doing a second, but I hadn't really thought of it until now. The first book came out in 2003 and has almost sold out of its print run. Since then, I've gathered several other pictures and a bunch of other stories. Hmmm. I might just need to gather it all up and see if I could do it. Of course, it will help immensely getting card scans from you folks.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

I believe Dave Levin has a Tom Nagle Old Judge card on his site. You could contact him to see if the image could be used.

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Posted By: Anonymous

Jason-
Here is a picture of Kading's Obak. No, it's not a trapezoidal cut. I don't own a scanner and had to tilt the camera to avoid reflecting my ugly mug.


Jeff-
Sorry I wasn't clear in my earlier post that Jason's first book was published by Arcadia. I was attempting to give a heads up about Arcadia to any Board members who might not be aware of their books. I tip my hat to both you guys for getting books published. Represents a lot of effort.

DMcD



If can, can; if no can, no can.

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Posted By: Robert S

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Posted By: Jason C

I bet that postcard photo was taken in 1934. I've found several photos of the team and individual players that season. I have never before seen that photo, though. Thanks for sharing.

I'll update the original post soon with images I have received thus far.

Thanks again to everyone. I looked through what I have and I think I might be able to put something together again for Arcadia, if they'll go with another on the same topic. I figure a chapter using the cards from here, a chapter on Burleigh Grimes (his agent/best friend is still alive and well and has a museum of Burleigh stuff), a chapter using various pictures I've received from players since the first book came out, and a chapter on the new team, the Eau Claire Express.

Without you guys, this wouldn't be possible. Thank you!

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Posted By: Ken McMillan

Hi Jason,

My Great great uncle (Elmer Miller), played for the Minneapolis St. Paul Saints in the teens. He later went on to play for the Yankees and played in the 1921 world series. After he retired from the Majors, He was a player/ manager for the Beloit Fairies in Beloit Wisconsin. Somewhere in the family history I seem to remember him being somehow associated with Eau Claire. We was inducted into the The Wisconsin Sports Hall of Fame in Beloit in the early 90's. Don't remember all of the details off the top of my head, but have a file on him.

Ken

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Posted By: Anonymous

Hi Ken-
Hmmm. I wonder what connection Elmer had with Eau Claire. The name doesn't ring a bell with me. Patsy Gharrity, Walter Johnson's "personal catcher", was a manager in Eau Claire in 1938 but lived a good chunk of his life in Beloit. He played for a company team there...Fairbanks-Morse or something like that...while he was holding out from the Senators. That company team was paying him more than Washington was! Anyway, I wonder if there is a connection there with Elmer. If you could check it out sometime and email me, I would greatly appreciate it.

And everyone...please keep those scans coming! I'm especially on the lookout for a photo of "Princeton Charlie" Reilley. Thanks!

Jason

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Posted By: Ken McMillan

Fairbanks Morse was the team he played/ managed after he played with the Yankees. He was traded from New York to Boston in mid 1922 and was part of the reason that the current Major league line cutoff was enacted. After the 1922 season he went to Beloit to work for Fairbanks Morse and was a player/ manager for the team. He died in Beloit of a heart attack in 1944. There was an indirect association with Eau Claire which is probably what you mentioned in the previous post. I do have an original photo of him in Yankee uniform and multiple ball cards from the 20's.

Ken

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Posted By: Brian

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Posted By: davidcycleback

I have heard that in winter the U. of Wisconsin-Eau Claire is the coldest college campus in the United States.
Something I buy, as nearby Minneapolis is the coldest major American city.

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Posted By: Anonymous

I talked with my acquisitions editor and he said the minor league books are, by and large, selling poorly. He doubted the committee would approve a volume 2 of Baseball in Eau Claire.

That said, he told me my book was an exception to the rule, so I may go ahead and fill out the proposal and take my chances. Or, this could be the kick in the pants I needed to look for another publisher or do it myself.

I'm still very interested in any photos of these guys, so please feel free to post here or email me if you ever come across some more.

Thank you for all the images thus far. You've been a great help.

Jason

p.s. I doubt UW-EC colder than UW-Superior or MN-Duluth. There is a footbridge across the Chippewa River that can get a little brisk some mornings, though.