1913 White Sox in Front of Hotel Oakland
To our many readers who are fans of the Dead Ball Era, here’s a repost of a real gem – one of the best Dead Ball Era team photos you’ll ever see!
Don Stokes found this beauty recently on EBay. It’s the 1913 White Sox during Spring training in Oakland, California. The photo shows a split squad in town at the Hotel Oakland to play against the Oakland Oaks. It says on the photo they were at the Hotel Oakland from March 6 until March 30, 1913.
As fans of the Dead Ball Era ourselves, we always enjoy classic photos like this. And we also enjoy trying to figure out who the players are. Usually you get a nice sampling of “Americana” in period photos like this, and this is no exception. Check out the neat team bus, vintage 1913!
According to a newspaper account Don found with the photo, this was the “1st team” and was managed by Jimmy “Nixey” Callahan; while the “2nd team,” which included regulars such as Eddie Cicotte, Jim “Death Valley” Scott, Doc White, Reb Russell, Jack Fournier, and Ping Bodie, was managed by Kid Gleason.
Don and I worked on the names. We couldn’t get them all, but we got a bunch:
L-R: Unknown, Frank Lange, Unknown, maybe Babe Borton, Harry Lord, Pop-Boy Smith, Morrie Rath, Big Ed Walsh (HOF), George Mogridge, John “Shano” Collins, Jimmy Johnson, “Butcher Boy” Joe Benz, Red Kuhn, Trainer Bill “Doc” Buckner. In the car is Ray “Cracker’ Schalk.
Pitcher George Mogridge is named in the article as a “recruit from the Western League.” Mogridge went on to have a 15-year major league career, with some decent years with the Yankees, Senators, and Braves, including a win in the 1924 World Series for the World Champion Senators. Of those players in the photo, Collins and Schalk were still with the team at the time of the infamous 1919 “Black Sox” scandal, but were always considered clean. Schalk was later elected to the Hall of Fame. Hall-of-Famer Big Ed Walsh is also in the photo. Not sure who the child is. Trainer Doc Buckner was one of the first African-American trainers in the game.
-Gary Livacari
