Umpires

[seattlerainiers]

That McGowan PC is exceptional, Derek. So cool.

Here a photo of 19th century (should-be-HOF) star George Van Haltren, umpiring in the Northwestern League, circa 1912.

[h2oya311]

Thanks David -

Oh, and I meant to acknowledge all the other cool cards/photos in this thread. I love this sort of stuff...Paul, Val, Jay, Ken, David, etc...thanks for sharing! I didn't know that O'Rourke and Van Haltren would later umpire the game.

Here's another one from my collection. It's a 1907 Silver Gelatin Photo of HOF umpire Billy Evans:

[paul]

Derek, that minor league postcard of McGowan is amazing! Do you have any idea why it even exists? Minor league umpires aren't exactly a popular subject for baseball cards.

[h2oya311]

Thanks Paul (and David) -

The style of the postcard looks mildly familiar to me, but I couldn’t find any other examples of player postcards online with this style. Anyone have a player from this postcard “set”?

Without any other examples, I have to believe that this was custom made by McGowan because he was very proud of his accomplishments. You’ll see that it was sent by McGowan to his “girlfriend” in 1915. Perhaps he was simply trying to impress her.

[paul]

Wow, if you ever want to let it go ...

[FourStrikes]

1920s-1930s RPPC

[h2oya311]

FourStrikes - interestingly, I own one of those as well....mine has different staining than the one you shared. Is it yours? I believe it to also be from the mid- to late-teens (not 1920s) as my postcard was also addressed to Irene (same girl that was the object of Bill's affection from my other postcard). McGowan met and married his future wife in 1918 (not Irene), so my guess is that the postcard you just shared is also from around 1915-1918. Very cool to know that another exists! It has that same crummy handwriting on front, but different corner creases and stains.