LOTG Contest

[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!

[Wite3]

I know that it does not match the name but maybe the name is just wrong as written...but could it be Tommy Leach? He was tiny and was often photographed with Wagner and Clarke...I am horrible at the facial recognition thing though.

[Jobu]

I wonder if the guy in the middle is a sportswriter, trainer, or front office guy. The picture seems like it follows someone saying "You think you can catch it?" to the guy in the middle as if he isn't a player - with Clarke acting like the guy is clearly going to drop it and Wagner shrugging because he isn't too confident. This could also explain the new uniform on the guy in the middle - he might be modeling the new one for the upcoming season for the players at spring training.

Side note: Isn't speculation grand?

[nolemmings]

I think DJ's point is a good one-- Wagner was not in Hot Springs for Spring Training in 1908. He is wearing a 1907 Pirates uniform. Either the photo is from 1907 and the middle subject is therefore not wearing a Pirates 1908 uniform, or the photo is post-1908 and Wagner is wearing the "old" uniform. Players often wore the preceding year's uniform in the Spring, with the new ones not put on display until the regular season. Thus, it seems less likely that Honus is wearing the "new" 1907 uniform in the photo; moreover, if he were, than how do you explain the other uniform? which would apparently have to be attributed to a college or minor league team in the area, unless Okkonen is wrong on the Brooklyn and Boston uniforms.

More likely this is from 1909, with Honus wearing a two year-old uniform. The further you get from 1909 the less likely he would be wearing an even older uniform. FWIW and since anything goes in this guessing game, let me throw out the wildest theory yet. There was an alderman/magistrate (low level judge) named Louis Alpern from Pittsburgh's 3rd ward in 1909, and there is a person by that name said by Ancestry.com to have been residing in the area in both 1920 and 1940 who was born around 1880, putting him in his late 20's -early 30's in 1909. It looks like he may have been the subject of corruption charges later on, and it's possible he considered himself quite the big shot. Could the photo be of a Pittsburgh politico who wanted his fantasy pic with the local boys of summer? And no, I have not been drinking.

[mybuddyinc]

Actually, when I was checking Baseball Reference*, I had a feeling about Ritter, but thought it was a long shot. But looking at his Chip, it's not to far off.

*
ritter.jpg

Nose and ears look good, as well as upside down triangle shaped face.

Pushing it, but it does start with A. Nickname "Old Dog" -------> German: "Alte Hund"

[Jobu]

I know Wagner "retired" in 1908, but are we sure he wasn't at spring training anyway? I couldn't find too many dates in a quick search, but this (see March):

http://dev.baseballlibrary.com/chron....php?year=1908

shows that the Naps started spring training on March 8 while it lists the date that Wagner announced his retirement on March 16th. If he showed up for spring training and became uphappy with negotiations while there he could have had put in a solid 8 days (if clubs started at similar dates) before calling it quits to force the owner's hand.

[Jobu]

Thanks for the update Al. Todd, nice work!

Al, no prize for guessing the conversation?

Originally Posted by Jobu

...The picture seems like it follows someone saying "You think you can catch it?" to the guy in the middle as if he isn't a player - with Clarke acting like the guy is clearly going to drop it and Wagner shrugging because he isn't too confident...