Quote:
Originally Posted by bobb49
Thanks, I looked at that picture and others all of a much older Grasso. This was allegedly taken in 1945...about 12 years before yours....and if not Grasso, then who?
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This is speculative, and hinges on the year of the photo being 1945. There were three catchers on the Giants' spring roster -- Ray Berres, Ernie Lombardi, and John Toncoff, a career minor leaguer. The photo is definitely not Berres or Lombardi. During the regular 1945 season, there were three catchers -- Lombardi, Clyde Kluttz, and Bill DeKoning. I've examined photos of Kluttz and DeKoning and have found characteristics which eliminate them.
The photo of Toncoff (on the left) shows him at age 26 in 1938 with the Ft. Smith Giants. One just has to wonder if he would have looked 7 years later like the Giant catcher in the photo on the right.