Help with a photo (Walter Johnson)

[bmarlowe1]

Originally Posted by Leon

I agree about not needing to be an expert to trust your own eyes

In general,for some people that is true, for others not. Many mistakes have been made by people trusting there own eyes. This is especially so when there is what appears to be some provenance. The photo below left came from the Red Sox and was wrongly claimed to be Harry Frazee. The real Frazee is below right. I can tell you that some people could not see past the Red Sox claim.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by bmarlowe1

In general,for some people that is true, for others not. Many mistakes have been made by people trusting there own eyes.

Maybe, but they should at least try using them first. It's tougher for the owner, as he wants the person to be someone famous, but it shouldn't be so tough for the rest of us....unless we read the provenance first.

If this photo had not had a player labeled 'W.Johnson', no one would have thought it was him. Do you remember the guy who owned a town-team photo from Pittsburg and was able to label almost everyone in the photo as a Pittsburg player? He was quite insistent. I don't remember who it was, so he might not still participate on the board, but I would love to see him post that photo again and have you take a look at it.

[bmarlowe1]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Do you remember the guy who owned a town-team photo from Pittsburg and was able to label almost everyone in the photo as a Pittsburg player? He was quite insistent.

This is not uncommon. For example, see p. 27 of "The Beer and Whisky League." The team photo is labeled as the 1882 Pit AA club. Many Pit players are ID'd. It turns out that the photo is the 1886 Utica Int Lg club, and of course all the player ID's are wrong.