[prewinter]

Originally Posted by prewinter

As for the second composite, in uniform, assuming it is the same club, there are three time frames for the photo. One is in April, when Small was absent, but a twelfth player was with the club. Pitcher E.E. Crump was signed at the start of April, presumably to fill out the spot Small wasn't around for yet. Crump was gone by late April. Ed Morkin came on board on April 24; he was around until he was released in early July. So from late April through early July, he could be one of the twelve.

The third might be in July. The Quad City Times reported on July 6 that new uniforms were being purchased for the club. Right around that time, wholesale changes were made, with five players being released (Manlove, Morkin, McSorely, Holacher and Jacoby), and a new crop of players signed, including Ed Mayer and Jerry Harrington, as well as the arrival of Small. If any of these three are in the second composite, that would set the date for it in July. On the other hand, if McSorely, released at the start of July, were in the composite, that would point to an April time frame.

Ed Morkin was identified as from London, Canada in the Quad City Times of April 24, 1888. He is pictured with the 1886 CPR Club of Winnipeg in the Manitoba Free Press on January 1, 1916. The picture is not very clear, but I could see him being one of the players in the 1888 Davenport composite with uniforms. It would make sense then that the photos were taken in late April, right as the season started. Morkin's photo is below. The composites are shown on Page 6 of this thread. The proposed identifications are still a mess.