HELP: Player identification

[RUKen]

Originally Posted by Beercan collector

So The guy standing next to Honus Wagner is not Fred Clarke ?

Definitely not Clarke.

[Cliff Bowman]

As I stand right now: #1 possibly Leever, #2 no doubt Ganley, #3 no doubt Flaherty, #4 no doubt Nealon, #5 no doubt Ritchie, #6 maybe Willis, #7 Wagner.

[RUKen]

Originally Posted by Cliff Bowman

As I stand right now: #1 probably Leever, #2 most likely Ganley, #3 most likely Flaherty, #4 no doubt Nealon, #5 no doubt Ritchie, #6 maybe Willis, #7 Wagner.

Regarding #1, I think the cap is important. In the early 1900s, men did not keep a collection of baseball-style caps like many do now. They wore baseball caps only to play baseball. Almost invariably, in photos from this era, players wore the cap from the team's uniform that year, except in spring training, when they wore their cap (and uniform) from the previous year. Player #1 is not wearing a 1905 Pittsburg cap, and Leever had played for Pittsburg since the 1890s. However, I no longer think it is Ganley.

I have attached below a 1905 newspaper image from the Boston Globe of Vic Willis looking to his left and smiling. He is wearing a Boston home uniform cap, which is not a match, but I believe that the Boston road cap for at least a part of the season may have been light colored without stripes. I now think Willis is a good match for #1, and I stand by my selection of Moskiman for #6. Player #2 is probably Ganley.

Player #1 / Willis smiling

[RUKen]

I concede now that this is most likely Ganley.

Ganley / Player #2 / Phillippe

[RUKen]

I'm convinced that this is Moskiman. Willis had a long face, longer than #6's face looks to me, and I believe I've matched smiling Willis to #1 (see post #37).

Moskiman / Player #6 / Willis