Is this really Fred Thayer, inventor of the catcher's mask?

[molenick]

To show you how bad I am at photo recognition, if someone said this player was on the Harvard team and didn't tell me who it was, I would have picked Wright. For what it's worth, the cabinet in the auction does have F. W. Thayer written in what appears to be period pencil on the back (which, of course, could be wrong...but at least someone else also thought it was Thayer).

[molenick]

Originally Posted by BobC

Is it just me, or does the cabinet photo look more like Wright from the Harvard team photos?

Hmmm...I guess I am not the only one.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by molenick

Hmmm...I guess I am not the only one.

No you're not. And that goes for all the Harvard photos. Even the build looks like Wright.

[molenick]

On the other hand, here is the 1876 team, in which the person labeled Thayer looks more like the cabinet to me. His left ear is showing clearly in both the cabinet and the team photo, so maybe someone who knows how to do these things can match them up. To be clear, I am just posting the photos for research and discussion purposes. I really don't know the answer, I am just replying based on the original poster questioning the ID.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by molenick

On the other hand, here is the 1876 team, in which the person labeled Thayer looks more like the cabinet to me. His left ear is showing clearly in both the cabinet and the team photo, so maybe someone who knows how to do these things can match them up. To be clear, I am just posting the photos for research and discussion purposes. I really don't know the answer, I am just replying based on the original poster questioning the ID.

This last Harvard photo does have Thayer resembling the cabinet more. Was able to better detect the part in Thayer's hair which also matches photo and cabinet. Wright looks like he consistently parted his hair farther over on the right side of his head in all the photos. Thayer parted his hair more in the middle, just like on the cabinet.

[puckpaul]

Here is a cabinet i have of Thayer and Bancroft (labeled as such anyway).