Can anyone help me date this photo?

[Archive]

Posted By: Bryan Long

I am looking for some help dating this photo. It is from Columbia University and I am having someone at the university help me identify the students in the photos, but we need to narrow down the date. There are a ton of people on this board better at dating these types of things than me. Any help would be great.
Thanks,
Bryan



.

[Archive]

Posted By: Pennsylvania Ted

Eddie Collins was at Columbia before he started playing for the A's in 1906. However, I don't see as either of these guys look like him.

[Archive]

Posted By: Dan Bretta

Quilted pants indicate 1890's...although the catcher's mitt looks to be circa 1900. I think you'd be safe calling this from about 1898-1903.

[Archive]

Posted By: Bryan Long

Dan,
Thank you very much for the help! I appreciate it.

and . . . I also doubt Eddie is in the picture. Maybe they played with him though

.

[Archive]

Posted By: Larry

What are they standing in front of? The Purple Oyster?

[Archive]

Posted By: Bryan Long

My guess is that Columbia University doesn't look much like that anymore. Of course, I'm not from New York.

.

[Archive]

Posted By: George

Bryan,
That's a beautiful photo. I did a quick google search on Columbia University and MLB players. I've attached the link below. It looks like Leo Fishel starting playing major league ball in 1899 but I was unable to find any photos of him. I agree that neither one of them looks like Eddie Collins however it's an absolutely striking image!

I know your original note was tied to dating this but wanted to add some more info. on any potential pro ball connections.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/college/columbia_university_baseball_players.shtml

George

[Archive]

Posted By: Bryan Long

Thanks a ton George - any and all info is greatly appreciated. This board offers a huge amount of knowledge and that is why I keep coming back.

.

[Archive]

Posted By: fkw

I agree with Dan, Id say 1899.

[Archive]

Posted By: Rich Klein

I'm jealous, as an alum who collects items like that, it is awesome.

Secondly, there are some buildings on the campus which still exist from when CU moved to morninside heights in the 1890's. And from my memory, that looks like the front of the building, whose name I can't recall from, that still exists which was built then.

Best Regards
Rich

[Archive]

Posted By: Bryan Long

I finally got a message back from Columbia University regarding the picture. The e-mail is below:

Dear Bryan,

Thank you for your email inquiring about the photo of the two baseball players. I had a staff member search Columbia College yearbooks from 1890 to 1910. She did not see any individuals that looked like the two gentleman in the photo you provided. What she did figure out was that the last year baseball players wore those waffle-type pants was in 1906. The first yearbook to have photos of the baseball team in it is the 1896 edition, picturing the 1894 baseball team.


I am afraid we can not spend any more staff time investigating this query. If you ever have the opportunity to come to New York, you are more than welcome to search through the yearbooks and our photo collection yourself.

Regards,

Jocelyn Wilk

My next question is . . . where can I go from here? Is my search over with or are there other places that may be able to help. The guys in the picture are pretty unique in appearance to me so I would think that if there are in the yearbook then they would be found. Just looking to get some ideas on more research options.
Thanks,


.

[Archive]

Posted By: Anthony S.

Have you considered researching contemporary newspaper accounts? There were a heck of a lot of NY newspapers circa 1900 and I gotta believe many of them are on microfiche in libraries.

[Archive]

Posted By: Dan Bretta

In my somewhat limited study of college ball players at the turn of the century I have found that at many schools not only was there a varsity baseball team, but also a freshman squad, fraternity squads, and even college squads within the school (Law, business, agricutlure, teaching, et cetera) Usually only the varsity team would be pictured in the annual yearbook. I used to have a bound copy of the Daily Nebraskan (UNL's student paper) from 1906 and not only did these teams play intraschool games, but also played against teams from other schools.

It's possible that the players pictured on your photo are not varsity players and never were.

edited to add: That's not to say that I think you should give up by any means....the search is 99% of the fun.

[Archive]

Posted By: Dan Bretta

I was able to identify this fellow from a 1905 U of Nebraska Yearbook.





He is M.E. Townsend the team captain.

[Archive]

Posted By: Bryan Long

Thanks for the help.

.