Thanks for the kind words. I don't have a photographic memory, but I do seem to have a polaroid camera in my mind that takes a shot every 30 minutes or so (unfortunately they're not labeled).
More interestingly on the point of selecting five obscure players, that grouping of Pelz/Payne/Bill Olsen/the Thomasons barely scratches the surface. Erskine Thomason actually pitched for the Phillies in 1974.
This underscores something I try to convey but really can't. The Topps photo archive was almost like the Domesday Book, the attempt to make a list of everybody living in England in 1086. By the mid-'60s, the Topps mandate was: if he's been in a major league uniform, we want a shot of him. Or a minor league uniform with a major league hat.
As examples, I came across images of guys who are to Erskine Thomason what Erskine Thomason is to Steve Carlton. There's a print somewhere of a guy at a '60s Giants camp simply marked "Johnny Richards" on the back. Took me about a year to identify him as
Jhonnatan Richards Minor & Mexican Leagues Statistics & History | Baseball-Reference.com - who was in camp for a few days with the '65 Giants but whose only professional games were at the Astros' farm in Cocoa and a few years later
with Yucatan of the Mexican League!
If you've read the minor league photo thread you'll know the story of Walt Adey (
http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...ml#post3773942) whose image was posted by Topps but never sold on eBay, presumably because they couldn't figure out who he was!
My notes show a '60s Cardinal player - probably 1964, maybe '62 or '63 - named Randy Speck. Posed as a first baseman. Nobody named Speck to be found in the Cards' system between 1960 and 1965. Nor anybody named Randy. Or Randall. Or Randolph (if you have any guesses on who this guy could've been, let me know. I assume it was some high schooler they signed over the winter and then dropped after spring training).
And just to show that Topps wasn't the only outfit photographing any thing that held still long enough to smile, there was a catcher named Nate Markham. This is a J.D. McCarthy photo that the great Detroit photographer took in spring training, 1966. There was also a folder of Markham at Topps, featuring other images also taken at Houston's 1966 camp.
Problem was, Markham never played a game for a Houston affiliate - but he was in the Giants' system in 1965:
Nathan Markham Minor Leagues Statistics & History | Baseball-Reference.com Apparently his career consisted of the following:
1. Sign with Giants
2. Hit .207 in rookie ball
3. Get drafted by the Astros and invited to camp
4. Get photographed by Topps
5. Get photographed by J.D. McCarthy
6. Get released at the end of spring training.
Lastly, and to provide at least one illustration: There were two unidentified young Yankee players, late '70s early '80s, in a Topps folder with Mike Ferraro (as a coach) and a couple of non-roster guys. Took me two years of asking Yankees of the era before finding that one of them was named Kevin Shannon. Later I tripped across a Ft. Lauderdale team picture which clearly showed the other one. His name was Mark Thiel, and he and Shannon were minor league catchers who were unofficially in big league camp just to warm-up pitchers on the back fields. Between them they played 352 minor league games, only 28 above A-ball.
Topps still photographed them.
This is Shannon. The guy over his right shoulder - a spring training instructor - was much easier to identify.