Any known photos of 1880's baseball writer Harry Clay Palmer?

[gracecollector]

Harry Clay Palmer was a baseball writer in the 1880's who worked for the Chicago Tribune, New York Herald, and the Sporting Life among others. He wrote for the Chicago Times from 1882-1884, Chicago Tribute 1884-1886 and Chicago Evening Journal 1886-1888. In 1888, he was selected by Albert Spalding to chronicle Spalding's World Tour of Baseball and report back to America the tour's exploits. Two years after the tour ended, he wrote a book about the tour entitled Sights Around The World Consisting of Interesting Stories of the Famous Sights of the World as they were seen by a Party of Gay Travelers on a "Round-The-World" Tour.

I happened to buy a first edition of this book last month and did a little research on Mr. Palmer. Finding biographical information on him is not easy. There is some information in another of his books Athletic Sportss in America, England and Australia, and that's about all I can find. He was born in 1861 but I can find no death or marriage records.

What I did find while researching him was an eBay listing of the cabinet card below. On the back is penciled Bertha & Harry Palmer. I'm now trying to determine if this is indeed a portrait of Harry Clay Palmer.

The only images I can find of Palmer come from small photos taking of him in Egypt during the World Tour, and a wood engraving of him that appears in Athletic Sports. In the small halftone pictures, he is wearing a Fez hat he purchased in Giza, Egypt - so that makes it a little harder to compare.

The studio portrait seems to be pretty similar to the three images in my opinion, but it is hard to tell. So here are the facts I know.

1) The studio portrait was taken between 1883-1888 based on the photographer's mark (W.A. Pryor of LaCrosse WI). I found a history of photography in LaCrosse and Pryor operated a studio there in those years.

2) LaCrosse is 282 miles from Chicago, but Harry traveled extensively while following the Chicago White Stockings as a reporter.

3) No clue if Palmer was married or who Bertha may have been. He is listed in a Chicago City Directory at this time without a wife/family.

So I'm wondering what you all think. Does the studio picture compare favorably to the book photos and wood engraving - given that the studio portrait could have been made 1-4 years earlier than the book photos?

And would anybody know of any known photos of Harry Clay Palmer?

Thanks for any opinions or additional help!

[bgar3]

I wish you luck, Athletic Sports is very underrated, and undervalued. Your separate Tour book is very nice.
Sorry but my check of baseball histories by Spink, Richter and Tuohey turned up only a small paragraph in Spink, with no biographical info. Will keep looking.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

I like the ear comparison in the last two images, bit of an unusual shape and sure looks like a match, but I'm definitely not the ear pro.

[triwak]

I have no relevant info, but Bertha is kind of adorable!