T210 Series 8 Mystery player

[rhettyeakley]

Originally Posted by Steve D

In the Mar 10, 1910 Birmingham Post-Herald, there is a mention of a pitcher named "Lower".

The manager "Molesworth" of the Birmingham Barons, had evidently picked him up from Cincinnati. He had been drafted by Clark Griffith, out of Omaha.

In 1909, he won 20 games, in 32 starts.

Here's his Baseball-reference.com page:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=lower-001joh

Steve

This seems like the most likely of the possibilities imo.

The thing that looks like a period before the name could be the right-most portion of an “L” that got partially covered when printed (or something like that)

[Steve D]

John Lower, 26 years of age, is also listed in the 1910 US Federal Census, taken Apr 26, 1910, living in Birmingham, AL. His occupation is listed as "base ball player".

Steve

[RCMcKenzie]

Great research, Steve, but BR lists him as left handed and the photo shows a right handed player. BR could be wrong, and Lower (Lauer?) was right handed, or image on card is a reverse image.

I think Andrew Bowen is pictured on 2 cards. Leader in the clubhouse. We may never know.

[Steve D]

Originally Posted by RCMcKenzie

Great research, Steve, but BR lists him as left handed and the photo shows a right handed player. BR could be wrong, and Lower (Lauer?) was right handed, or image on card is a reverse image.

I think Andrew Bowen is pictured on 2 cards. Leader in the clubhouse. We may never know.

All I can say is that the information in my post above came directly from the 1910 articles in the Birmingham Post-Herald, and they correspond with the 1909 stats for John Lower on baseball-reference.com; and he is listed in Birmingham, as a baseball player, in the 1910 census.

Steve

[Steve D]

I just found this picture of the 1910 Birmingham Barons on wikipedia:



You'll notice that the "B" logo is on each player's left arm, while the T210 card has it on the right sleeve.

So, it looks like a reversed negative.

Steve

[nolemmings]

I don't believe that photo to be conclusive. The players are wearing a variety of uniforms. Also, 2-3 other Barons in the t210 set show the logo on the right sleeve (Bauer and Emory, with Kane sporting a different "B" but also on the right sleeve) and others show a bare/blank left sleeve, so maybe they changed unis or perhaps there were some artistic liberties taken in production.
I would stick to that card being of Johnny Lower, a right-handed pitcher.

[Vintagecatcher]

I came across this eBay listing showing a player named Oyler whom played with the 1906 Birmingham team.

A further check of Baseball reference revealed that William Bashore Oyler was on the roster of both 1906 and 1907 Birmingham Barons team as a shortstop and second baseman.


https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=oyler-001wil

Patrick

[nolemmings]

Nice catch on Lower, Steve. He was on the team preseason and released June 10, 1910. Somewhat surprising his stats are not listed on Baseball Reference for the 1910 Barons. They got it wrong on his pitching arm too-- he was a righty, so it seems likely this is the intended subject of the T210 mystery man:


Birmingham Post-Herald: 14 Apr 1910, Thu · Page 12 [SAME PIC APPEARS IN TWO OTHER ISSUES OF THIS PAPER, with write-up on March 16, 1910]

[spec]

[QUOTE=nolemmings;2369653]Nice catch on Lower, Steve. He was on the team preseason and released June 10, 1910. Somewhat surprising his stats are not listed on Baseball Reference for the 1910 Barons.
/QUOTE]

When a player does not appear in Baseball Reference statistics that usually is because Baseball Reference uses the statistical summaries from the Reach or Spalding guides. The guides often omitted players who failed to appear in a certain number of games (generally 10). A number of the players included in the T209 and T210 series are absent from Baseball Reference for this reason.

[nolemmings]

[QUOTE=spec;2369925]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Nice catch on Lower, Steve. He was on the team preseason and released June 10, 1910. Somewhat surprising his stats are not listed on Baseball Reference for the 1910 Barons.
/QUOTE]

When a player does not appear in Baseball Reference statistics that usually is because Baseball Reference uses the statistical summaries from the Reach or Spalding guides. The guides often omitted players who failed to appear in a certain number of games (generally 10). A number of the players included in the T209 and T210 series are absent from Baseball Reference for this reason.

Good to know, although I bet some of these players are identified in team photos in the very guides that chose not to track their stats. I also see occasions, like here with Birmingham, where Baseball Reference lists players with no stats and with a question mark-- in this case Otis Stockdale and Moxie Maxwell.

Interestingly, there also seems to be some considerable discrepancy in what appears in Baseball Reference from what is shown in The Sporting Life. For example, the final 1910 season stats in the TSL show that Barons pitcher Fleharty had a record of 17-11, but Baseball Reference has him at 16-20. The other three pitchers with stated records in BR also do not match what is in TSL, although Flaherty is the most glaringly disparate. May not matter much to most folks 100+ years later, but I find it notable.

[RCMcKenzie]

After seeing the additional evidence that y'all found, I now agree that "Lower" is the best answer.