19th Century Player - Team Cabinet Identification Help Needed (OJ Players ?)

[DixieBaseball]

I wanted to put this cabinet out to the Net 54 crowd for any help on identifying players and date. I have done some initial research and have identified Julius Doc Wiseman on the bottom left, but need to confirm if the player on the Top 2nd from right is Pete Sweeney ? (Old Judge Washington 3rd baseman) Also, is the 3rd player from the top left, George Bradley (3rd baseman Sioux City) ? Some other faces look familiar, but I can't place them... Any help would be appreciated. Also, anyone want to take a stab at the date ? My research has this team pegged between 1896-1900, but need further help... Perhaps this is a Nashville team from a year not represented on Baseball Reference ?? These guys have those quilted pants with fancy belts, ring bats, painter's caps and the gloves for a few of the guys look like Catcher's mitts and possibly 1b or 3b gloves compared to the smaller OF gloves. Thanks in advance for any information you might provide - (I can send scans if you want to see close up. The picture is in amazing condition for the age)

http://www.baseball-reference.com/mi...gi?id=7aa3432e
http://www.baseball-reference.com/mi...gi?id=d1275343
http://www.baseball-reference.com/mi...gi?id=1ffa49ea


1901 Southern Association B Nashville Vols/Volunteers
1900 ?
1899 ?
1898 ?
1897 Central League C Nashville/Henderson Centennials
1896?
1895 Southern Association B Nashville Seraphs
1894 Southern Association B Nashville Tigers
1893 Southern Association B Nashville Tigers
1887 Southern League N/A Nashville Blues
1886 Southern Association B Nashville Americans
1885 Southern League N/A Nashville Americans

[RCMcKenzie]

Jeremy,

Reddy Mack was only on Nashville in 1893. And, it does not look like any of the pictured players resemble Reddy Mack's n172 pictures. This might suggest that this photo is not 1893. You might be able to narrow the years by process of elimination.

I suppose it still could be an 1893 cabinet with Mack just left out of the photo. Nice cabinet.

[Wite3]

Not sure this is a pro team...wasn't Stallings manager for several years in the late 1800s for Nashville? The coach/owner? is too old to be George Stallings...college team maybe?

[RCMcKenzie]

Baseball-Reference lists Wiseman's playing years with Nashville as 1901-1911. So, if y'all are confident about the Wiseman ID, then it would be 1901-1911.

[DixieBaseball]

I think it is very possible that Wiseman was on the Nashville team before 1901. (He played for Mobile and New Orleans in 1896 and 1898. There is gaps in his timeline. Also, when you look at Baseball Reference there are question marks next to all of the OJ players that played for Nashville in 1887, 1893, 1894 and so on... These guys jumped around so much in that era. (Baseball Reference has a lot of these guys playing for 2 teams in one season, so it isn't exactly a science just yet due to lack of information)

I feel like it is one of the years that Nashville doesn't show a team for years 1896, 1898, 1899, or 1900. One of those 4 years is my bet...

Thanks for your input thus far... Long way to go to figure it out...

[z28jd]

Originally Posted by NashvilleBaseball

I think it is very possible that Wiseman was on the Nashville team before 1901. (He played for Mobile and New Orleans in 1896 and 1898. There is gaps in his timeline. Also, when you look at Baseball Reference there are question marks next to all of the OJ players that played for Nashville in 1887, 1893, 1894 and so on... These guys jumped around so much in that era. (Baseball Reference has a lot of these guys playing for 2 teams in one season, so it isn't exactly a science just yet due to lack of information)

Just so you know on the highlighted part up top

? is they don't know what the guy batted
* is a lefty
# is a switch hitter
nothing next to name is a righty

[RCMcKenzie]

I know firsthand that baseball-reference.com has erroneous gaps, as it led me to believe that Foley White could not have been the Houston player depicted in T206, until Tim provided a newspaper clipping citing White's presence during that era.

Maybe you can crop in and zoom in on the faces so that the face recognition guys can get a better look. I am not good at face ID's, but there are some real pros on here. If y'all could ID a few more, it might narrow the year down, or lead to other IDs.

[RCMcKenzie]

It could be, as you said, from the years that there is no data for Nashville from baseball-reference.com, 1896,1898-1900.

Ed Abbaticchio batted .363 and .353 for Nashville in 1901 and 1902, so if he is not pictured on this cabinet, then it is unlikely from 1901 or 1902. I don't see anyone who looks like Abbaticchio, except for maybe the guy in the front row on the far right.

[DixieBaseball]

Guys - Thanks for your opinions thus far. I added a closer scan to help identify the players a little better. Hopefully the facial recognition folks and some of the 19th century collectors (Old Judge folks) will chime in at some point. I may have to look up our ear and nose specialists as he has been invaluable in this type of quest in the past. (Don't start charging just yet )

[JeremyW]

Jeremy- Here's a cropped shot of Pete Sweeney. Unfortunately, I'm not that good at photo identifications. Maybe, if someone could do a side-by-side it would be easier. Jeremy

[DixieBaseball]

Thanks Jeremy... I will line these 2 cropped photo's side by side... Pete Sweeney played for Nashville Tigers in 1894 and Baseball reference doesn't have any other teams listed after 1897, so it possible he played partial years in Nashville other than 1894. Perhaps even in 1896, 1898 or 1899...