Old photo of an unknown St. Louis Cardinal player

[Michele]

Does anyone recognize this St. Louis Cardinals baseball player? The piece was bought at auction.

The photo is post-1905 (by the photographer's location) and probably circa 1910-1914.



It was taken by a well-known baseball photographer, Carl J. Horner.

Some info on Horner from cycleback.com:

Horner, Carl. In the early 1900s Horner’s stoic, some will say bland, portraits of Major League Baseball players were commonly reprinted by newspapers, magazines, board games and trading cards. He shot what is one of the most recognizable images in the history of the American sport: the portrait of Honus Wagner used on the 1909 T206 card.

While reproductions of his images are common, Horner’s original mounted photographs are rare and highly desired. He produced a number of hen’s teeth rare and extremely expensive cabinet cards with T206 portraits (same portraits as used on the baseball cards). These cabinets are usually on light colored and ornately embossed mounts with his name on the bottom. He also produced full body cabinet cards and larger mounted photos of baseball players. These are desirable, though not as rare or expensive as his ‘T206’ cabinets. These also have his name on the mount and are ornately embossed.

Horner produced some monster-sized composite baseball photographs. Made for particular leagues or teams, each photo contained many player vignettes. His name usually appears somewhere on the front. These are also rare and extremely expensive.

There are early 1900s imperial cabinet sized premiums that have reproductions (photoengravings with a dot pattern in the image) of Horner’s T206 images affixed to a dark colored mounts. Baseball card collectors refer to these as ‘Horner Cabinets.’ A few of the images in this issue were shot by Benjamin J. Falk not Horner. Though collectable and scarce, these are not actual photographs and are to be distinguished from Horner’s more expensive original photographs.

I haven't the slightest idea who this player might be and many online bios of baseball players from that era don't have accompanying photos. Thanks for any help!

[bmarlowe1]

The uniform date range is about 1909-1916.

[Michele]

Thanks for that date range.

I've also been asking about this photo on the eBay Bookseller's Board. Someone there said it may be a St. Louis Browns uniform, not a Cardinals uniform, since they both had the STL logo on the sleeve.

Someone else suggested it may be a young George Sisler.

Any ideas (or wild guesses) are appreciated!

[Oldtix]

The Browns didn't adopt that style jersey until 1916 per Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century by Marc Okkonen...and the photo looks to be much earlier than that.

As a previous poster reported, the Cardinals started using this style in 1909.

[bmarlowe1]

The Browns sleeve logo, that as stated began in 1916, was an "SL" without a "t". The photo in question shows a Cardinals uniform.

It is not Sisler.

What you have is a 1909 photo of Chappy Charles. He was in StL in 1909. Thanks to my friend Matt for finding this one. There also is a confirming photo of him in the St. Louis Cardinals Encyclopedia - definitely the same guy.

[Michele]

Wow!

Amazing detective work ... thank you so much! I'm absolutely amazed that you dug up a baseball card that matches my photo exactly.

This is very exciting ... thanks again for the great result!

[Michele]

For those who may not want to click on the link, here is the baseball card of the man in my photo:



Thanks again .... I am really amazed that this photo mystery was solved so quickly. You guys are the best!

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Michele

For those who may not want to click on the link, here is the baseball card of the man in my photo:



Thanks again .... I am really amazed that this photo mystery was solved so quickly. You guys are the best!

Carl Horner was the preeminent baseball photographer in the very early part of the 20th century. Many of our cards ie... M116 (as above), T204, T206 etc...used Horner photos for their cards. Great looking cabinet photo. BTW, our forum has some of the best photo "detection" folks in the business...and they are always willing to help. regards

[barrysloate]

Charles played for St. Louis in 1908 and 1909, but the uniform style with the insignia on the sleeve was not introduced until 1909. So that is the year the photo was taken.