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#1
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Mystery Solved: 1904 Cubs Chinatown Spring Training Tintype - Lundgren, Jones. more
NOTE: I updated the story of this photo thanks to the help of everyone who posted in this thread. The final version is in post 17.
------------ This photo was discussed here a long time ago: https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=64899 Scan_20200408 edit.jpg Cubs Lundgren Tintype 3 edit.jpg Summary of that thread:
WHEN WAS THIS PHOTO TAKEN The first thing I did was to try to figure out the year as this might go far in helping to ID the mystery player. If the Bridegrooms connection might be wrong, then perhaps the 1904 date is off as well. I created a table of their teams by year from 1901-1906: Table 1.jpg This shows that it is highly unlikely that this photo dates from 1901 as Lundgren and Howard weren’t even in the minors yet. 1902 is a bit more likely, but still not terrific as Howard is still two years away from organized ball. 1903 is possible, 1904 looks pretty good, but then by 1905 these guys are pretty spread out again. So, I settled on this probably being 1903 or 1904 – and 1904 matches the original description, so that seems like a good bet. WHO IS THE GUY ON THE LEFT? This one is a bit tougher. The 2004 Net54 post suggests that it might be Bobby Lowe. However, this face clearly is not a match for Lowe. Bobby_Lowe.jpg What the 2004 post missed is that it does not say Lowe, but appears to say “Maham” with an M matching the M used to write Moriarty on the photo. Scan_20200408 enhanced - crop to text.jpg “Great!” you might be thinking. But Maham is a bit of a dead end. Baseball reference shows 0 players named Mahan. A search for “Maha” in case that last letter is wrong yields four guys from the period: ??Mahan (1900) https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=mahan-003--- Frank Mahar (1902) https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...aharfr01.shtml ??? Mahan (1901) https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=mahan-010--- ??? Mahan (1902) https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=mahan-011--- Charles Mahan (1902-1903) https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=mahan-002--- Frank is the only one of this group that ever made it to the majors, for Philadelphia for 1 game, so he seems unlikely. I do not recognize this face from Cubs’ team photos from the period, so we are at a bit of a dead end. Though I still have a guess for who this is. WHERE WERE THESE GUYS? The 2004 thread guessed Chinatown in Brooklyn, but there are other Chinatowns. And this one is not Brooklyn, but San Francisco. The image in the background is a painted background of The Cliff House, a San Francisco landmark that burned down in 1907. I started looking into the Cliff House and came across a site I almost cannot believe exists: http://www.cliffhouseproject.com/introduction.htm In addition to a ton of history, they have also compiled photos of Cliff House and of studio photos with Cliff House backgrounds. My photo is not in their gallery of tintype images, but scrolling through there are clearly a number of different painted Cliff House backgrounds that were in use by different studios. A single one of these backgrounds is a perfect match for what is in the photo: Mounted photo with exact background.jpg And fortunately is mounted with the studio name and address. This backdrop was found at CH Vitalini Foto. 271 Montgomery Ave, SF Cal. The studio is found in, you guessed it, San Francisco’s Chinatown (red X is the location of the studio): Chinatown Map - Photographer Marked.jpg So, we know where they were, but…. WHY WERE THEY THERE? The Chicago Cubs held their spring training in California several times in this era:
WHAT IS LEFT? We still have not firmly established the year or the player on the back left. Given that Del Howard was not in pro ball in 1903, it seem unlikely that he would have been invited to spring training that year so we can probably rule out 1903. However, in 1904 he plays his first season in Omaha, so it is entirely possible that he got a tryout for the Cubs, didn’t make the team that year, and then went to Omaha after being cut. This seems likely given everything else. There is one other connection between the players in the photo – Illinois:
This might explain Howard’s possible invitation to camp in 1904. There were lots of players telling management “You really need to get a look at this guy!” back then, and one or more of the Illinois contingent may have gotten Howard an invitation before he later joined his first team, Omaha. Knowing all of this, I decided to take another crack at the mystery player. I went back to my “Maha” results and added some more details: ???Mahan (1900) https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=mahan-003--- No info Frank Mahar (1902) https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...aharfr01.shtml Born MA. Played for Philadelphia – 1 at bat ??? Mahan (1901) https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=mahan-010--- Davenport River Rats ILL in 1901 ??? Mahan (1902) https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=mahan-011--- 1902 Troy New York State League Charles Mahan (1902-1903) https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=mahan-002--- Michigan League (Muskegon, Sagniaw, Jackson, Anderson, Grand Rapids)[/LIST] One of these guys isn’t like the other. ???Mahan (1901) played his lone season for the Davenport (IL) River Rats. If we add him to the team/year breakdown we see: Table 2.jpg Moriarty and Mahan were teammates on the 1901 Davenport River Rats. There is no birthplace info for this player, but this is as good a guess for this player as I can find. WHAT ABOUT THE GUIDE? I contacted the San Francisco Historical Society and they had some interesting info to add, including (from two different people): “There is one guy specifically that you see pictured on tour photos of group tours taken out at the Cliff House. Maybe it’s him? I think he was a bit of a well-known personality in his day. There was also a guy who did “underground” tours of Chinatown complete with Opium Dens and such, that I have seen a photo of.”Given that the guide has a large fake badge on, he lines up pretty well with the ex-police officer guide mentioned. The location of the photo studio in Chinatown also fits with this having been a tour of Chinatown, as does the handwritten note on the photo. WHAT IS THE FINAL STORY? Over the winter of 1903-1904, returning Chicago Cubs Moriarty, Jones, and Lundgren were getting ready for spring training. They managed to secure either an invitation to training camp for their friend Del Howard or met him for the first time in San Francisco. There may also have been an invitation for Mahan, but he may also have been Moriarty’s friend just along for the trip. The guys took a weekend off and hopped the train from LA to San Francisco, got all dressed up for a night on the town, hired a guide, and snapped this photo at the edge of Chinatown on the way into/back from their night on the town.
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Collection: https://www.flickr.com/photos/132359235@N05/sets/ Ebay listings: https://www.ebay.com/sch/harrydoyle/...p2047675.l2562 Last edited by Jobu; 03-23-2022 at 10:37 AM. |
#2
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Great job! I’m not sure that I buy the weekend trip to SF. That’s a 400 mile train trip each way. Is it possible that the Cubs went to SF to play an exhibition game against the Seals?
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#3
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Definitely could be an exhibition game. Or maybe they had to transfer trains in SF and had a night in town for it? I would love to know the reason they ended up there!
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Collection: https://www.flickr.com/photos/132359235@N05/sets/ Ebay listings: https://www.ebay.com/sch/harrydoyle/...p2047675.l2562 |
#4
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Quote:
February 6, 1904, edition of Sporting Life: Selee has signed a kid named Dell (sic) Howard, from a little Illinois town. Bob Wicker recommended him, and says that for a beginner Howard is a wonder. He is an outfielder, and is touted as the goods. According to Jim Hart, the lad will be given a fair chance, and may make the team as a utility outfielder. |
#5
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Awesome - thanks for posting that!! It is gratifying to see that my speculation was right.
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Collection: https://www.flickr.com/photos/132359235@N05/sets/ Ebay listings: https://www.ebay.com/sch/harrydoyle/...p2047675.l2562 |
#6
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I hope that this source info will help with your research, the clipping is coming from The Daily Californian on March 2nd 1904. All of the players you have identified were scheduled to make the trip. Assuming a departure from the Raisin City on the 17th, I would probably make the safe assumption that your image was most likely taken over the weekend of March 18th-20th 1904.
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#7
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Here’s my contribution. Information from San Francisco Call newspaper. Due to rain, the initial exhibition game versus San Francisco was postponed. The Cubs agreed to stay in town and try to play, since they didn’t have to play Seattle ( at Sacramento ball field) until Wednesday March 23. Cubs played San Francisco on March 21 and won 5 to 4. I couldn’t find results for the next day, so that may have been rained out. The Cubs played Seattle on March 23 and lost 8-2. I’m looking for a box score. So the kicker....a Eugene Mahon played for Seattle and Portland in 1904. Unfortunately, I can’t find out anything about him.
Michael |
#8
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Very cool!
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