As graceful as a dancing master

[Northviewcats]

Hello Everyone,

I’ve wanted for some time to look up biographical information on some less famous players from the dead ball era. Players whose cards I am collecting. I’m sure that most collectors are aware of the Society for American Baseball Research. I think it is a great resource for getting information.

I thought I start a thread where I would pick a player from my collection, scan the cards I own of the player, and add the link to the player’s biography on the SABR Website. I would like to invite the members of the board to follow the link, read the biography, and then add any information that they have on the player. It would also be cool if members could post some scans of cards that they have of the player in their collection. In this way we can show a “little love” to some of the lesser known prewar ball players and at the same time learn more about them and the cards that keep them from slipping into obscurity. I imagine that many of the newer collectors, like myself, would appreciate learning about the players and seeing all of the different cards that they could collect. It would also be cool if other members started similar threads about the players that they were interested in.

So, this thread will feature “Wid” Conroy. Until, I read his biography on SABR, by Sam Berstein, I didn’t know anything about him except he had a funny nickname, hit a lot of triples, and that he played for the Yankees when they were still called the Highlanders. I also found it interesting that he had sort of a “Magglio Ordonez haircut thing” going on, as seen in his T206 fielding card. In any case, I really enjoyed reading Berstein’s biography of him especially when he wrote that reporters claimed that Wid was “as graceful as a dancing master” around third base. I would have loved to see him play.

Here is the link to Wid's bio in SABR: http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?...=1697&pid=2771

Thanks for sharing any pictures or stories.

Best wishes,

Joe

[brickyardkennedy]

I remember reading awhile back, that this 1903 photo of Conroy, leaping for a throw at third, when with the Highlanders, was the first baseball action shot.

[Northviewcats]

Wow. What a great photo. Conroy does look like a dance master in the picture. According to the records, 1903 was the first year Conroy played for the Highlanders. So, this is probably one of the earliest Yankees photos, as well.

Bob, thanks for sharing.

Joe

[brickyardkennedy]

http://tinyurl.com/lcmotr

Here's the page I took that snap from, Joe.

[Jantz]

Hi Joe

I did kinda the same thing when I received my first T206 card of Nap Rucker. All the bio information that I found about Nap was quite interesting. Learned alot in just alittle time. Nice thread.

Jantz

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Conroy married Mary Helen Carey in 1904. He had brown hair and blue eyes. He did not attend college. During WWI he worked as a rigger for the New York Shipbuilding Company in Camden, NJ. Over the years, the Conroys lived at both 239 and 301 East Main Street in Moorestown, NJ.