LOTG Contest

[wolf441]

The way they are clowning around in the photo, I thought it might be a celebrity of the time (an actor/vaudeville performer) or a club employee (trainer, executive)/family member as he seems pretty short to be a ballplayer (there were certainly many short players, so just a thought...). I did some quick research on-line, but couldn't come up with anyone contemporary to the era that was a close match...

[vintagetoppsguy]

My guess was Ritter. From the updated blog, I guess I wasn't the only one.

I still think it's Ritter

[rhettyeakley]

here is a closer image of Ritter.

Ritter is listed as 5'9" and Wagner at 5'11". It looks like Wagner towers over the guy in the image.

[vthobby]

http://bklyn.newspapers.com/newspage/57650342/

with the reference in the article that also mentions Wagner and Clarke:

THE SCORE. BROOKLYN'. Name. Alpernvrn, Casey: 3b.

But can't find a name even close in the annals of MLB?!?!?!?!?!?

Hey, if someone gets this based on my findings, I'm claiming half of that $200 credit!



Peace, Mike

[Steve D]

I'm thinking it might be Otis Clymer.

I also don't believe Honus was really that much bigger than the guy in the middle. If you look closely, Honus is standing on his toes, with his heels in the air. He also appears to be stretching his body in order to look bigger (and he's shrugging his shoulders), while Clarke and the other guy are both sort of scrunched or bending down.

Lastly, if you look at the names, Clarke's name is misspelled, and the middle name could begin with "Cly"

Edited to add:

The problem with it being Clymer is that he left the Pirates in the middle of the 1907 season.

After further research, the middle-man bears a resemblance to Beals Becker, who came up to the Pirates in 1908. That would explain why the guy's wearing a 1908 uniform, since he didn't have a 1907 one. Then again, Becker was not yet 22 years old in the Spring of 1908, while the man in the photo appears to be older than that.

Steve

[milkit1]

I'm saying it's Ritter as well. looks like him. He was a catcher. He played for Brooklyn and I'm pretty sure that's the uniform he's wearing. The 5'9 height could be wrong. I noticed every site has Fred Paynes birthday wrong and height would be a lot harder to confirm over time.

[Jobu]

I agree that this guy looks a LOT like Ritter. However, the Colgan's picture shows that Ritter is a guy with a pretty severely crooked nose at the end, maybe from a break, while Al's photo shows a guy with a similar looking nose that clearly has no hook. This alone seems like enough evidence to say that it isn't Ritter. Unfortunately I have no idea who it is!

[sb1]

Strangely Wagner's pose mimic's Ritter's T206 card.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/bb...140/1143fv.jpg

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

Ritter is listed as 5'9" and Wagner at 5'11". It looks like Wagner towers over the guy in the image.

One of the reasons that I thought it was Ritter was because of his smaller size (5' 9" 150 lbs). The guy is definitely a lot smaller than Wagner, but for some reason I was thinking Wagner was taller than that. But, you are correct, he does tower over the guy so it couldn't be Ritter. Oh, well.

The eyes and facial lines sure do look similar though.

[x2drich2000]

My original thought was that it was Al Wagner, but I can't find a clear image of him from that time period for a good comparison. I believe the picture has to be from 1909 or later. Based on the uniforms, we know the player in the middle is wearing a 1908 uniform, however, Wagner held out/considered retiring and did not play until after the 1908 season began. Therefore, Honus would not have been in Hot Springs in 1908. I was able to find a team photo from 1911 that shows both Honus and Al, thus proving they were together in Hot Springs at one point, but to me the image is not real clear. Also, I believe Al and Honus were much closer in height than the image suggests. So I'm not so confident in my pick.

DJ