1879 Dubuque Photo -Will the Real Comiskey please stand up or sit down?

[barrysloate]

I can't even begin to count the number of times I've seen someone who found a 19th century photograph, and was certain there was a Hall of Famer in it. And roughly 95% of the time, the identification has been wrong. Everybody wants to make a great find, and believe they were just a little smarter or a little luckier than everyone else. Or that they were in the right place at the right time when they stumbled into that antique store. This is yet another example of it. I say it's not Comiskey.

[bigfish]

Mark is a photo identification expert. Not to mention the others who have weighed in. I think this one is dead in the water.

[Directly]

Let me be clear, I respect all opinions and I understand the powers to be. I did expect the skepticism and denials, but don't blame me, its not my fault, I just found the 134 year old photo.

First it was the ears, I showed they can match, just as I can show they don't. Then I dragged my photo image over the image showing Comiskey taken at Dubuque for comparison and its a proportioned match, yes the eyes, nose, mouth, chin, especially the widows peak (a extremely unique human characteristic) all match. (: Try it I'm then advised that procedure isn't exceptable, although just last week on national TV (Fox News) that same computer technique was used for a 1865 baseball Photo, the photo was dragged over another copy?

Fact: Mr. Jordan the photographer was in business when Comiskey was playing baseball at Dubuque.

Fact: Mr. Comiskey knew the photographer

Fact: The photograph is stamped "DUBUQUE" It is dim, so one must have hands on to see it, but its there. Jordan is easier to see. This is all from age + whoever owned the relic must have been very proud to display the photo.

Fact: The Dubuque photo ended up in St Louis,Mo. is this more than just a coincidence. Example: William Gleason later became a Fireman in St Louis. Sullivan, Loftus and Comiskey all played baseball there.

Fact: If the origin would have NOT been stamped or was stamped other city say as one example Marshalltown Iowa, I would NOT be having this discussion.

Fact: I'm not the only one that believe it's Comiskey.

Fact: There are dealers on here that asked to sell my photo?

Fact: It ain't over till its over --

------Now you can all go at it-----

I appreciate my chance to present my card and I hope this hasn't damaged or caused any hard feelings, its been a pleasure ,and God bless!

[bmarlowe1]

>>>Fact: The Dubuque photo ended up in St Louis,Mo. is this more than just a coincidence. Example: William Gleason later became a Fireman in St Louis. Sullivan, Loftus and Comiskey all played baseball there.

So what? None of these people are in your photo. Anyone who lived, worked, or played ball in Dubuque at any level could easily later move to St. Louis or send the photo to friends or relatives there.

For any rational person, nothing you have said comes close to proving that this is what you claim it to be. No, you did not show that the ears can match. Good luck finding a major auction house willing to sell this as Comiskey. It's already been rejected. After this thread it probably won't be so easy to find a smaller AH to willing to take it.

The photos overlayed on Fox were virtually the same photo (two sides of a stereo pair of team photos) - this has nothing to do with facial comparison. It is very common for the faces of two different persons to have similar proportions. Given the extremely poor quality of the photo you used for comparison, detailed matching is not possible. Your judgment on these kind of things is demonstrably bad. Did you try the overlay method for Radbourn?

Which one of these is not like the others?

[ksfarmboy]

The guy on the left has blue eyes and the other three have brown eyes.

[slidekellyslide]

One of them is actually Lee Harvey Oswald.

[packs]

Your photo features distinctly different uniforms from the confirmed Dubuque team photos with Comiskey or any other confirmed player. How do you explain this disparity? Everyone has a different uniform on. It looks like a town team.

Even if it is stamped Dubuque, that doesn't make it the Dubuque team. There were lots of teams from New York City who weren't the Giants.

[Lordstan]

It's been a while since I posted as I just got busy with life, but I am amazed by this thread.

The OP comes on asking the question "Who's the real Comiskey?" He gets an answer he doesn't like and then refuses to believe it. Hmm.
By the initial question, it seems clear to me that he sees there obvious differences between the 2 players pictured. Is there a similarity? Sure, but as Lance very clearly explained, if one difference exists then it isn't the same person.
The grouping of facts is interesting. The first five certainly do show that it is possible for Charles Comsikey to be in this picture, but those items do not prove in any way that it is in fact Comiskey pictured. The last 2 don't prove anything either. Many people thought the earth was flat until they found out it wasn't.

Am I some known picture expert? No
Can I see clearly what is laid in front of me? Yes. The OP's inability to see the difference between the straight line of Comiskey's ear and the curved line of the guy in his picture is somewhat surprising.

I've added a couple of pictures, hopefully, to help the OP out.

I added the red line to show the extra piece of ear the OP cut out in his attempt to compare ears.


Next, I added something to Mark's comparison pictures that I noticed about the inner ear shape. I added the Blue lines to show how the shape of Comiskey's inner ear arches up and back. The unknown player's inner ear tissue projects forward and downward.


Best,
Mark