Earliest Known Color Baseball Photo or Slide?

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by GoCubsGo32

Thank you Hank for sharing your knowledge and research! I'll definitely have to watch that series and keep a look out for the player's home movies. I thought for sure something might be out there of WaJo.

That would have been my guess, too, but by now I'd bet against it. Of course, his last ten years before he died in 1946 he was pretty isolated on his farm. But...not THAT isolated: He was the Nationals broadcaster in 1939, and that's when a lot of those color home movies were shot at the ballparks; and he ran for Congress in 1940, but I guess color photography was in its infancy then. You'd think there would be some color film taken at the grand opening of the HOF in 1939, but I've never seen any. There's still stuff out there waiting to be discovered, though, so who knows?

[NiceDocter]

Probably colorized but old. Date of 1907 crossed out to 1908. I’ve owned this for 45 years or so. Major league park? Let the experts chime in!!! Rocky

[Topnotchsy]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

That would have been my guess, too, but by now I'd bet against it. Of course, his last ten years before he died in 1946 he was pretty isolated on his farm. But...not THAT isolated: He was the Nationals broadcaster in 1939, and that's when a lot of those color home movies were shot at the ballparks; and he ran for Congress in 1940, but I guess color photography was in its infancy then. You'd think there would be some color film taken at the grand opening of the HOF in 1939, but I've never seen any. There's still stuff out there waiting to be discovered, though, so who knows?

Maybe the best shot would have been at WWII Bond Games?

[seattlerainiers]

Here's a color Kodak snapshot of cup of coffee major leaguer Chet Johnson, pictured here with the Western Int'l League Tacoma Tigers, August 1942. Chet played 17 years in the minors, largely in the PCL

This came from Chet's own photo album, and unfortunately, was the only color snapshot present. I was quite excited when I discovered it.

[Lucas00]

Originally Posted by seattlerainiers

Here's a color Kodak snapshot of cup of coffee major leaguer Chet Johnson, pictured here with the Western Int'l League Tacoma Tigers, August 1942. Chet played 17 years in the minors, largely in the PCL

This came from Chet's own photo album, and unfortunately, was the only color snapshot present. I was quite excited when I discovered it.

Wooow! 1942. Unreal, this is a Kodacolor print. According to Wikipedia that is the first year of true Kodacolor printing of still images (probably not true and went back earlier). According to one source it was used as early as the late 20s, but was for filming, not stills. And barely looked better than B&W.

The difference with Kodachrome I believe is Kodachrome prints were created from slide film. And Kodacolor prints were more traditional and created from color negatives.

I'm not sure about the processes used to create color. But I do know Kodacolor can still be produced today. But Kodachrome slide printing was so complex and specialized it cannot be developed today in color, only in black and white. You can really see the quality difference in the two, Kodachrome almost looks as good as modern photography, while Kodacolor is almost sepia looking.

Amazing photo in any case!!

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by seattlerainiers

Here's a color Kodak snapshot of cup of coffee major leaguer Chet Johnson, pictured here with the Western Int'l League Tacoma Tigers, August 1942. Chet played 17 years in the minors, largely in the PCL This came from Chet's own photo album, and unfortunately, was the only color snapshot present. I was quite excited when I discovered it.

Cool!

[GoCubsGo32]

Originally Posted by NiceDocter

Probably colorized but old. Date of 1907 crossed out to 1908. I’ve owned this for 45 years or so. Major league park? Let the experts chime in!!! Rocky

Awesome, Rocky! Looks like Polo Grounds to me.

Originally Posted by seattlerainiers

Here's a color Kodak snapshot of cup of coffee major leaguer Chet Johnson, pictured here with the Western Int'l League Tacoma Tigers, August 1942. Chet played 17 years in the minors, largely in the PCL

This came from Chet's own photo album, and unfortunately, was the only color snapshot present. I was quite excited when I discovered it.

Wow!! What a great discovery in that photo album! Thank you for sharing this snapper.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by Topnotchsy

Maybe the best shot would have been at WWII Bond Games?

You would think, but I've seen a lot of those films, none in color. Doesn't mean there isn't one out there somewhere.