Thread for player identification in team photos

[cmcgill]

Originally Posted by UKBaseballfan

The image you have listed as the 1884 St. Paul Saints I have recorded as 1899, inferior copy attached, with identifications.

Yes, that looks like other pictures of the same year for the Western League. I'll make the change. Thanks.

[cinemaodyssey]

This team composite has been very helpful with several tough to find players making appearances (i.e. Lawlor and Shea). I've got most of the identifications down, but the names aren't all legible. Any additional help would be great. The photo was printed in the 3/12/1911 edition of The Houston Post.

[prewinter]

Originally Posted by cinemaodyssey

This team composite has been very helpful with several tough to find players making appearances (i.e. Lawlor and Shea). I've got most of the identifications down, but the names aren't all legible. Any additional help would be great. The photo was printed in the 3/12/1911 edition of The Houston Post.

A smaller version of this was attached to a blog in 2007 called Houston Past.
https://houstorian.wordpress.com/200...aseball-teams/

This print shows the photo was taken by Charles Wright, who had a photo gallery in Houston. There is a blurb in the Houston Post in April 12, 1888 that states "A large handsome group photo of the Babies adorns the show case in front of Wright's photograph gallery; and a more handsome set of ball tossers were never bunched together."

The lineup for Houston for the game to be played that day was printed as Godar (3b), Howard (ss), Douthett (cf), Traut (1b), Murphy (c), Weikart (2b), Nichols (p), Flaherty (lf), Shea (rf). They also had Vogel, Lawlor, Lohbeck, and Flood in town at that time. Some of those names are visible on the reprint in the newspaper.

I hope these names can narrow down who is missing/not identified. Thanks for pointing me to the full photo.

Edited 2/8/2026 to remove the duplication of Flaherty.

[UKBaseballfan]

Originally Posted by cinemaodyssey

This team composite has been very helpful with several tough to find players making appearances (i.e. Lawlor and Shea). I've got most of the identifications down, but the names aren't all legible. Any additional help would be great. The photo was printed in the 3/12/1911 edition of The Houston Post.

I would suggest the following on the basis of information provided by the 2 previous posts. Unconventional suggestions by column (4) rather than row. Flaherty appears twice in the last post above.

Column 1 (Top to Bottom)
Vogel
? Hulin
Weikhart
Godar

Column 2
Douthett
Flaherty
Nichols
Lawlor

Column 3
Howard
Craig
Shea
Murphy

Column 4
Traut
Flood
Lohbeck ?

[cinemaodyssey]

Originally Posted by UKBaseballfan

I would suggest the following on the basis of information provided by the 2 previous posts. Unconventional suggestions by column (4) rather than row. Flaherty appears twice in the last post above.

Column 1 (Top to Bottom)
Vogel
? Hulin
Weikhart
Godar

Column 2
Douthett
Flaherty
Nichols
Lawlor

Column 3
Howard
Craig
Shea
Murphy

Column 4
Traut
Flood
Lohbeck ?

This is more or less what I have for identifications too. I was able to fully identify Vogel and Howard as well. Vogel, the papers note, was James H. Vogel, a pitcher. Howard was Harry Howard.

[prewinter]

Originally Posted by UKBaseballfan

I would suggest the following on the basis of information provided by the 2 previous posts. Unconventional suggestions by column (4) rather than row. Flaherty appears twice in the last post above.

Column 1 (Top to Bottom)
Vogel
? Hulin
Weikhart
Godar

I've been trying to determine when Hulin played for Houston and when he played for Galveston in 1888. I know the database from Reed Howard has the dates 3/30 - 7/4 for Houston (and then 7/10 - 7/22 for the club in the revamped Texas-Southern League and Galveston after that), but I have yet to find a box score with his name in it anywhere in Texas in 1888, and I also haven't found a mention of his signing with the club anywhere.

I did find mention of John Horan with the club in an article in the Houston Post on February 1, 1888, and subsequently in some preseason games. That would be my bet for the player identified as Hulin on the club in 1888, and of course, in the composite.

[UKBaseballfan]

Originally Posted by prewinter

I've been trying to determine when Hulin played for Houston and when he played for Galveston in 1888. I know the database from Reed Howard has the dates 3/30 - 7/4 for Houston (and then 7/10 - 7/22 for the club in the revamped Texas-Southern League and Galveston after that), but I have yet to find a box score with his name in it anywhere in Texas in 1888, and I also haven't found a mention of his signing with the club anywhere.

I did find mention of John Horan with the club in an article in the Houston Post on February 1, 1888, and subsequently in some preseason games. That would be my bet for the player identified as Hulin on the club in 1888, and of course, in the composite.

Seems like a good bet to me too, thank you..

[prewinter]

This photo of the 1877 Lowell club was printed in the Lowell Sun in 1936. The uniforms are different than those shown in the composite photo shown on Threads of the Game (exemplar attached of Revilo F. Cook). A note in the Lowell Courier Citizen on August 23, 1877 indicates the team was photographed (minus one player, unspecified) the day before. This could be that photo.

The full club for the season, as best I can tell, was Revilo F. Cook, Sam Crane, Charles (Curry) Foley, Bill Hawes, Lon Knight, John Piggott, Eugene Stoughton, Denny Sullivan, J.W. White (manager), Art Whitney, Frank Whitney, and Sam Wright. That is twelve people, and only eleven are pictured.

I'm better at researching who could be in photos than identifying players. Anyone care to take a shot? Sorry the print is not very good.

[cinemaodyssey]

I have a copy of the original photograph. This may make identifications a little easier.

[prewinter]

Originally Posted by cinemaodyssey

I have a copy of the original photograph. This may make identifications a little easier.

Wow. That is nice! Thank you.

[prewinter]

Originally Posted by cinemaodyssey

I have a copy of the original photograph. This may make identifications a little easier.

Here's my best effort at identifying the players. Three of them (3 - Stoughton, 6 - Foley, and 7 - Hawes) are identified in the caption of the photo when it was printed in the paper in 1936. I see no reason to doubt those assignments. If the rest can be identified, I think there are some improvements to the known images for some of these players.

Proposed identifictions
1) Sam Wright.
2) Denny Sullivan
3) Eugene Stoughton
4) John Piggott
5) Frank Whitney
6) Art Whitney
7) Bill Hawes
8) Charles (Curry) Foley
9) Lon Knight
10) Sam Crane
11) Revilo F. Cook

Comparisons with known photos to follow.
(Edited 6/8/2026 to switch Piggott and Cook)
(Edited again 6/9/2026 to switch Art Whitney and Foley)

[prewinter]

3) Eugene Stoughton
7) Bill Hawes
8) Charles (Curry) Foley

[prewinter]

1) Sam Wright.
2) Denny Sullivan
4) John Piggott

[prewinter]

5) Frank Whitney
6) Art Whitney
9) Lon Knight

[prewinter]

10) Sam Crane
11) Revilo Cook

[cinemaodyssey]

Those look like good matches to me. I prefer player #8 as Curry Foley, however.

[prewinter]

Originally Posted by cinemaodyssey

Those look like good matches to me. I prefer player #8 as Curry Foley, however.

You are correct. The caption places Bill Hawes, and then states Foley is "... on his immediate left", not left from my perspective. Doh!

That would make Art Whitney Player #6, sitting next to his brother Frank (Player #5).

I'll update the above this evening at some point.

[UKBaseballfan]

Originally Posted by prewinter

1) Sam Wright.
2) Denny Sullivan
4) John Piggott

I have never seen your example of Sam Wright before. Can you provide any additional information as to the year it was taken? Thank you.

[prewinter]

Originally Posted by UKBaseballfan

I have never seen your example of Sam Wright before. Can you provide any additional information as to the year it was taken? Thank you.

I found it on this forum. It was posted in 2022 by AESP_pres.
https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...ht#post4871558

That's all I know about it.

Update - It appears with his SABR bio:
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/sam-wright-jr/

[UKBaseballfan]

Thank you for all the info.