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Originally Posted by UKBaseballfan
I think there is reason to be positive.
A major breakthrough was CinemaOddyssey's identification of Nick Young which indicated the 1869-70 Washington Olympics. Identification of Force confirmed this and then as you suggest the proposed identification of Malone narrows it down to 1869.
Urell could be a noted figure in Military history and an amazing color portrait is attached.
The 9 players shown in the image are probably Force (3b) , Bob Reach (ss) , Malone (c), Young (rf) , Ed Leech (pitcher), Val Robinson (lf), Eddie Woods (2b) , Michael Urell (cf) and Harry McLean (1b).
Incidentally Michael Urell's full name is Michael Emmett Urell, and I believe normally referred to as Emmett not Michael, that will clear up the puzzling 'new' name in the box score. Is that him at 4 o'clock in the image?
Here is an image of McLean, again later in life. We have no contemporary images for Bob Reach but there are plenty of his brother Al. Here is one which appears to be a close match to the player at 2 o'clock in the composite.
Both McLean and Urell officiated as umpires.
Images of Leech, Robinson and Woods may exist in team images from the period which are unnamed. Now we have a reference point in the composite to try and match with.
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Gen. Urell's obituary in the Washington Herald (died 1910) mentions he played baseball with Nick Young, so he is likely the Olympics player by that name. When the Olympics went on a trip through Ohio in July 1869, M.E. Urell is listed as in the hotel with the club, but Emmett shows up in the box score, so that supports that he was referred to as Emmett. On the other hand, on that same trip, D. Barrett is listed at the hotel while Billings shows up in the box scores... but I found one box score with both a Billings and a Barrett.
I'm also not sure how much, if any, overlap there was between McLean and Urell, at least in box scores. McLean umpired some games later in the season, and he was identified as a member of the Olympics, but I haven't found a box score yet with both players. (I also haven't scoured the full season yet.) "Billings" seems to show up more often with Urell, and maybe Hurley.
As far as the timing of the photos, an article in April describes the Olympics uniforms as having a red and white check shirt, and the photos certainly don't look like that.
Late in August, or more likely early September, the club was set to get new uniforms, with shirt and pants of white flannel, a blue cord down the leg, blue stockings, blue belt, and white skull cap trimmed with blue, and an Old English letter O on the breast. The photos do not have an "O". There was one description in mid-September in the papers that did not include the "O", so maybe that didn't happen. But a new uniform would be an occasion to have photos taken.