Goodwin Glass Plate Negatives – Research Conclusions/Summary

[Joe_G.]

Bump . . .

For a number of reasons, it has taken awhile for me to take delivery of the negatives I won at the Saco River Auctions, but they are now in-hand safe and sound. I want to begin by thanking the team at Chicago Albumen Works including Doug Munson, Toddy Munson, and Emily Phoenix who assisted with negative cleaning, scanning, creating a “back-up” LVT negative, creating prints, and providing archival storage materials and advice for safe keeping for the next 100 years. They likewise provided a good resource to help explain some of their observations made on various negatives such as the presence of varnish on some. Visit the following webpage from the Image Permanence Institute for far more details on 19th century negatives than I have provided.

Everything you wanted to know about Gelatin Dry Plates and more.

Among my winnings, a pair of Weidmans, a Moffett, and a pair of Matthews. I really cherish the Stump Weidman negatives since they date to the 1887 Detroit Wolverine photo shoot. Weidman is the only Detroit Wolverine player found amongst the known population of negatives. In my original post I shared all the modifications performed on one of the Weidman negatives and how it proves the negatives are original to the card making process. On a side note, one of Weidman negatives provides some clues on the bat’s maker but eludes my limited knowledge on the subject. Is anyone here able to identify the bat’s make/type? I had much better luck with Matthews, but more on that later.

The Moffett negative dates to an 1888 photoshoot at Fearnaught Studio. Fearnaught photographed both the Indy and Detroit teams before the start of the 1888 baseball season with Moffett’s negative providing some insight into why some of the player’s cards (especially N173s) contain a leg of the backdrop stand; i.e. a narrow backdrop. See N173 examples of Pete Conway (not mine) & Deacon White. In studying the Moffett negatives it becomes apparent that the optic focal plane is excellent at the bottom (feet) but falls behind the player as you move up to chest and face (blurry). Nice photo of front shoe, not so much for his face.

Last, but not least, the images Gilbert and Bacon captured of HOF hopeful Bobby Matthews. As previously mentioned, the Gilbert & Bacon negatives enjoy some of the best image clarity I’ve studied. I’m posting the complete negatives together with enlarged images (limited to 600x600).

Perhaps the biggest surprise from studying all the negatives at the Saco River Auction originate from the Bobby Matthews images in which he was handling a very early Louisville Slugger bat. I’m told that this 1888 image predates any other known professional model Hillerich bat in print, photo, or actual surviving bat by approximately a decade. As the legend goes, the first professional model Hillerich bat was used by Pete Browning in 1884 and wouldn’t become commonplace until much later (Louisville Slugger being patented in 1894). On the bat you can clearly make out the proper address for Hillerich’s wood shop, 216 FIRST ST, LOUISVILLE, KY which today is 118S 1st St (home to Hillerich’s shop from 1875-1901). I just wish the bat were rotated a bit so we could see what was printed on the bat above the address. It almost looks like it might say “J F HILLERICH & SON” (bottom bat - from "bat at side" pose) but I have conflicting information from HOF, Louisville Slugger Museum, and Net54 members as to when this would have been possible. Some suggest this wasn’t possible until 1897 yet there is literature dated 1895 that uses “J F HILLERICH & SON”. Others suggest this could have been used as early as 1887. The son, John Andrew "Bud" Hillerich, was working for his father, J. Frederick Hillerich, as an apprentice as early as 1880 but not sure when the father renamed the business J F Hillerich & Son.

Without further ado, here is the earliest known image of a professional model bat from the Hillerich family.

[trdcrdkid]

Joe -- the first word on Weidman's bat is "Burlingame", but I can't make out the second word. I gather that Burlingame was a popular bat model in the 1880s, and replicas are used today by vintage base ball recreators:

http://providencegrays.pbworks.com/w...rlingame%20Bat

https://www.phoenixbats.com/burlinga...eball-bat.html

[wonkaticket]

Joe, one of the most interesting things I have read in a long time. Wow just wow and an amazing job. Add in the fact that used one of my fav poses from the OJ and that's the icing on the cake.



Great post.

Cheers,

John

[kkkkandp]

Joe:

Thanks to you for one of my favorite Net 54 threads of all time!

Kevin

[ullmandds]

Awesome stuff Joe!

[wolf441]

Very impressive. Some really great research to add to our hobby, Joe!!

[T206Collector]

Crazy awesome

[autograf]

Top 10 threads ever and fantastic research. Makes me want to get back into the OJ world again........

[Joe_G.]

Originally Posted by trdcrdkid

Joe -- the first word on Weidman's bat is "Burlingame", but I can't make out the second word.

Dave, thanks for the spot on lead. The more I dig into baseball bat history the more intrigued I've become. I previously thought professional model bats of the 1880s were nearly all Spalding or Reach but now realize there were many more possibilities.

Kevin, thanks for the post on Arundel using a Burlingame bat. It actually appears to be the same bat for both photo shoots at Gray Studio suggesting that it was perhaps a prop owned by Gray Studio. Can you check and see if there is a small chip in the knob of the bat found slightly above a line that extends down center of bat positioned above the "BURLINGAME" logo?

There is evidence that players were loyal to certain bats yet when the team would be photographed they would often use another bat. Example being Charlie Bennett who was known to like A J Reach bats (see 1886 Reach Guide below, middle of page), yet when photographed at Tomlinson Studio in 1886, Bennett used the same Spalding bat as all the other Detroit players. This Spalding bat may have belonged to the team, another player, or Tomlinson Studio.

I guess this could also mean the early Hillerich Louisville bat may have been used by teammates during the Athletics photo shoot but could be tough to determine from surviving cards.

Thanks to everyone for chiming in, these negatives are pretty neat pieces of history. I'm still amazed at the detail the old manually operated wood & brass cameras could capture on a coated glass plate. Here is another close-up, this time of Matthew's belt.

I just now realized that I inadvertently posted two historic players in the same post when I coupled Deacon White with Bobby Matthews. They both played in the first ever MLB game in 1871. Bobby Matthews was the starting and winning pitcher despite Deacon White having a solid performance including a stand-up double to lead off the game (first MLB hit). By the time Goodwin & Co. issued their cards they were "OLD" men.

Keep an eye out for this OJ (sorry, rushed attempt to create what could be / may be).

[oldjudge]

Interesting that Anson endorsed the Reach bat. That couldn't have made Big Al happy.

[kkkkandp]

Joe:

You've done it again!

It is impossible to say for certain that (pardon my French ) there is an imperfection on Arundel's knob. The position of the bat, the proximity of his hands to the end of the bat, and the focus prevents that. The imperfection is fairly evident, however, on Cahill's (Arundel's Indianapolis teammate) negative. That would seem to corroborate your supposition that the bat was the same one used in several photo shoots.

Kevin

Arundel first; then Cahill

[bmarlowe1]

Originally Posted by kkkkandp

Joe:
It is impossible to say for certain that (pardon my French ) there is an imperfection on Arundel's knob.

It may be possible to do some wood grain comparisons on other portions of the bat, though this is also subject to focus and how the bat has been rotated in the respective photos.

[Runscott]

Joe, I can't see any of the pictures - there's a blank space where each image should appear.

I 'quoted' your post so that I could see the 'IMG' text, copied the url into a separate browser window, and they still each come up blank.

[wolf441]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Joe, I can't see any of the pictures - there's a blank space where each image should appear.

I 'quoted' your post so that I could see the 'IMG' text, copied the url into a separate browser window, and they still each come up blank.

Looks fine on my page. I think they call that a PEBCAT in the IT world....

"problem exists between chair and terminal"

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by wolf441

Looks fine on my page. I think they call that a PEBCAT in the IT world....

"problem exists between chair and terminal"

It is a Safari issue. Works fine with Firefox browser.


Joe - those images and your research are incredible!!!!

[Joe_G.]

John, let me know when you are ready to downgrade that Weidman, I have you covered

Kevin, thanks for the follow-up on Arundel’s knob

Apparently it was common for players to pass the bat and in this case probably a studio prop that was used player after player, team after team. Per details outlined in the original post, I believe Boston was the first team photographed by Gray Studio in 1887. Burdock, Tate and others have a different bat with a dark ring at the end (which could be a Burlingame bat - they had models with ring at end, but different than the Burlingame bat we see in our negatives). All the teams that would follow Boston (Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh, New York, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Detroit) could very well be using the same Burlingame bat we see on the 1887 Indy and Detroit negatives. Consider that none of players from the mentioned teams are using the commonplace Spalding or Reach bats (easy to identify). That Burlingame bat may be the most photographed baseball bat in the history of baseball cards (Gray Studio has far more poses in OJ set than any other Studio). Jump to Fearnaught studio in 1888 and all Detroits (5 players) as well as the 1888 Indy photos have what appears to be the same Spalding ring bat. Start looking at specific team photo shoots within OJ set and you see the bat trend time and time again.

Jay, I bet Spalding was not happy with Anson’s endorsement of Reach bats and may have contributed to his aggressive takeover of the company in the years that followed. Then again, Spalding purchased many of his competitors, not just Reach. I think Baby Anson enjoyed rubbing more than just the umpire and opposing players the wrong way. That had to be awkward to play for Chicago and not swing a Spalding bat in those years. I find it equally surprising that Spalding didn't have the foresight to request his team to bring a Spalding ring bat to Gray Studio in 1887; they all appear to be posing with the Burlingame bat.

I posted the following image on the Memorabilia side and figured I'd post it here as well. I believe this 1888 (or earlier) Hillerich bat reads:

J F HILLERICH & SON
216 FIRST ST.
LOUISVILLE, KY.

Enough about bats . . .

For those who have or desire to collect negatives, Goodwin & Co. or otherwise, I will again give props to Chicago Albumen Works who offer just about any service you could want. In my case that included a light cleaning, scanning (1200dpi), making back-up LVT negatives (modern high quality flimsy negative to preserve the image if the unthinkable happens to the glass negative), prints (sepia toned in my case), providing me with several digital options on CD, and the all important archival storage materials (box holds up to a dozen 5”x7” negatives). Chicago Albumen Works is not cheap, but good help usually isn’t. I’ve attached a couple pictures for those who might be curious.

Note that the four flap envelope is preferred to avoid sliding the negative in and out of envelopes such as the glassine envelopes that can be seen at bottom right. The glassine envelopes may actually be original to the negatives but are not the best way to store them. I'm saving the envelopes but the negatives will no longer call them home.

Thank you to everyone that has responded here and in personal emails. I'm elated to share with my hobby friends, we all share a common interest and feed off each other.

[GoldenAge50s]

What a tremendous read & education!

Thanks Joe--Outstanding piece of work!