Thread for player identification in team photos

[cinemaodyssey]

Here's another exemplar for Billy Bray, from the same La Grande team.


I'm not liking the ear match for Munday as player #3. I don't see a solid match for any of them really. He might not be in this team photo.

[cinemaodyssey]

The newspaper article that covered the 1891 La Grande, OR team mentioned that Munday, Bray and a player named Al Ray (pictured below) played for Portland in 1890. While I don't see Ray listed as having played with Portland, he does bear a strong resemblance to unidentified player #1.

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Originally Posted by cinemaodyssey

The newspaper article that covered the 1891 La Grande, OR team mentioned that Munday, Bray and a player named Al Ray (pictured below) played for Portland in 1890. While I don't see Ray listed as having played with Portland, he does bear a strong resemblance to unidentified player #1.

I'm wondering if Al Ray was actually William Bays, but with an incorrect last name in the paper. The Omaha Daily Bee (March 23, 1890) gave his name as W.A. Bays. He pitched there in April and May before being released, at which point the papers reported he was going to Portland. The "Al" may have been from his middle name.

I'm going to go back through the box scores again and see if perhaps there is a "Ray" that turns up that I just assumed should have been "Bray".

In any case, the presence of Hulin and Harris puts a pretty tight time frame on the photo, and the list of players who appeared in games during that span doesn't leave room for Bays or an unidentified Ray.

[prewinter]

I came across the photo of the 1914 St. Louis Terriers on the Robert Edward Auction site. I was wondering if anyone had ever tried to ID the players in the photo.

According to Baseball-Reference, the team only used 25 different players all season, so I'm not sure at what point 21 would have been on the roster at the same time. I'm thinking it was probably taken during spring training, so I guess I'll look at the roster that might have been in camp.

https://robertedwardauctions.com/auc...rs-team-photo/

[cinemaodyssey]

I found this through one of my many newspapers searches a number of years ago. I don't recall which one, unfortunately, but it was printed not long after the photo was taken.

[prewinter]

Originally Posted by cinemaodyssey

I found this through one of my many newspapers searches a number of years ago. I don't recall which one, unfortunately, but it was printed not long after the photo was taken.

Ask and you shall receive. Thanks! If I find the reference I'll post it.

Update: I didn't find the exact newspaper, but the photo was also published in the Baltimore Sun on April 27, 1914, pg. 9.
Another update: The exact article was in the Tuscon Citizen on April 29, 1914, pg. 6.
And the Honolulu Star-Bulletin published the caption for the photo on May 5, 1914, below a photo of four athletes from Oxford.

I found these by searching for "Willett Boucher", two names next to each other in the caption.

[cinemaodyssey]

I've been trying to find a picture for missing player Mike E. Burke and I'm almost certain he's sitting in the front row, far left in this team photo, purportedly of the 1876 Columbus Buckeyes. Burke was a very big man for the time period and he was a starter for the 1876 and 1877 teams. I'm wondering if this is a late-season or early 1877 photo, however, due to Chub Sullivan (front row, far right) and possibly Eddie Booth (front row, second from the right) being present. Also, George Strief being there would mean it would have to be August or later as he was reported to have signed on 8/2/1876 by the Wheeling Daily Register. Tentatively, I have this so far:


Top Row, L-R: Joe Simmons, Jimmy Williams (Manager/Owner), unidentified, unidentified, The Only Nolan, Herm Doscher
Bottom Row, L-R: Mike Burke?, George Strief, unidentified, Eddie Booth?, Chub Sullivan


Jim Foran and one of the Mansells was on the team early in the year. A player named Dodds was a starter for the season, and Shaffer and Martin also appeared in box scores. They could be Orator Shafer and Phonney Martin.

[prewinter]

Originally Posted by cinemaodyssey

Jim Foran and one of the Mansells was on the team early in the year. A player named Dodds was a starter for the season, and Shaffer and Martin also appeared in box scores. They could be Orator Shafer and Phonney Martin.

Skimming the Columbus papers from 1876, "Martin" in the box scores seems to be Martin Nolan, a local. Shafer was "George Schaffer, late of the Philadelphia club", so yes, Orator Shafer. He replaced Foran on the club (Columbus Dispatch, Aug. 14, 1876). George Strief was signed in late July to replace Martin Nolan. Joe Simmons replaced a player identified as West on the club. At some point, Mansell got sick and I think Martin came back to replace him.

Dodds was Samuel Dodds. Mansell is identified as M.R. Mansell and stated to be 18 years old, so that fits Mike Mansell. The catcher was Billy Barnie, from Hartford in 1874 and Keokuk and the New York Mutuals in 1875.

I just located an article published in the Columbus Dispatch on Nov 16, 1876 that was a season recap. It states the team used just 13 regular players during the season. Barnie, Nolan, Dodds, Martin, Burke and Doscher played all season. West was succeeded by Simmons in June. Strief joined in July, Shaffer came in August replacing Foran and Callahan started in September. Mansell seems to have left in late July.

Edited to clarify:
Ed Nolan and Martin Nolan were two different players. Martin Nolan was referred to as Martin in the box scores, as best I can tell. He was a local player who had played in Columbus for a number of years prior to 1876.

[cinemaodyssey]

Awesome! Thanks for all that additional research!

[cinemaodyssey]

For a visual reference point, here's an image of James A. Williams, who ran the 1876 Columbus club.

[prewinter]

Originally Posted by cinemaodyssey

For a visual reference point, here's an image of James A. Williams, who ran the 1876 Columbus club.

I can see why you like him for the guy in the suit standing in the back row.

[cinemaodyssey]

I'm looking for missing player Pete Treacey, brother of Fred, who attended Fordham from 1871-1876. The attached team photo is confirmed as the 1875 Rose Hill squad so it is highly likely Treacey is pictured there. I'm curious if anyone has attempted to get the player ids from this one as they are not stated on Fordham's webpage.


Assuming some familial resemblance, the player seated with the bat on the right looks promising.

[prewinter]

Originally Posted by cinemaodyssey

I'm looking for missing player Pete Treacey, brother of Fred, who attended Fordham from 1871-1876. The attached team photo is confirmed as the 1875 Rose Hill squad so it is highly likely Treacey is pictured there. I'm curious if anyone has attempted to get the player ids from this one as they are not stated on Fordham's webpage.


Assuming some familial resemblance, the player seated with the bat on the right looks promising.

I found two box scores for the 1875 Rose Hill club in the New York Clipper (May 29, 1875). No Treacey in these boxscores.

[cinemaodyssey]

Thanks for that. Interesting that the Arlington team has a "Tracey" listed...

[prewinter]

The photo of the club was printed in the newspaper at one point (sorry, don't know when), but a clean copy can be obtained from the Union Pacific Museum. (I'm not sure I can post it for copyright reasons, so I'm not going to.) With a little bit of digging, I've gotten full names for all of them. Judging from the names, the photo was probably taken late in 1884, as Visner didn't join the club until much later in the season.

I'm not entirely sure the caption in the paper has it right. The five standing in the back are Jerry Cavanaugh, Charles Taylor, Charles Whitney (brother of Jim Whitney - https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...hitnji01.shtml), Lee Funkhouser, and Bill Rockwell.
The middle row (two seated in the center) are Russ McKelvey and Joe Visner.
The front row (starting with the player whom Cavanaugh has a hand on the sholder) is Dick Dwyer, Harry Salisbury, Frank Bandle (directly behind the dog), Joe Walsh, and John Sneed.
This is the way the original has it on the caption.

Major Leaguers are in bold. Rockwell, Bandle and Dwyer have minor league records on Baseball-Reference. Lee Funkhouser was involved in organizing the Omaha club later in the 1880s.

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Here are clearer views of the players from the original photo.
Bandle, Cavanaugh, Dwyer, Funkhouser

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McKelvey, Rockwell, Salisbury, Sneed

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Taylor, Visner, Walsh, Whitney

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Originally Posted by prewinter

The 1886 Atlanta Team Photo promotes the club as the 'Champions of 1886'. Atlanta won the Southern League that year with a total roster of 17 players, 14 of whom played in the majors at some point. The photo itself contains 14 players. Joe Gunson is identified on the front. The IDs proposed for the other players are

Back row: Unidentified, Jim Conway, Sam Kimber(?), Unidentified, CubStricker, Thomas Lynch
Middle row: John Shaffer, Unidentified (possibly a mascot), Blondie Purcell
Front row: Elias Peak, Monk Cline, Joe Gunson, Denny Lyons, Henry Moore
Options for unidentified are Patsy McDonald, Charles Williams, and Frank Mitchell

I recently found this photo of Charles Williams in the Dayton newspaper. Williams was with the club all season, so he absolutely has to be in the team photo. He is one of the three unidentified players (or four if you consider Kimber as not absolute).

[cinemaodyssey]

Originally Posted by prewinter

I recently found this photo of Charles Williams in the Dayton newspaper. Williams was with the club all season, so he absolutely has to be in the team photo. He is one of the three unidentified players (or four if you consider Kimber as not absolute).

Excellent find! From this great front-facing exemplar, I like the player standing next to Cub Stricker as the likeliest subject. His hair is even parted the same way.