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Vintage 1913 Dead Ball Era Photo Gallery
Click on any image below to see photos in full size and to start Photo Gallery:
Vintage Photo of 1913 White Sox in Front of Hotel Oakland!
Since my recent Dead Ball Era footage was so well received, I thought I’d stay in my favorite baseball “time zone” for just a bit longer.
Here’s a repost of a real gem – one of the best Dead Ball Era team photos you’ll ever see!
Our baseball researcher par excellence, Don Stokes, found this beauty a while back on EBay. It’s the 1913 White Sox during Spring training in Oakland, California. The photo shows a split White Sox squad in town play against the Oakland Oaks. It says on the photo they were at the Hotel Oakland from March 6 until March 30, 1913. Usually you get a nice sampling of “Americana” in period photos, and this one is no exception.
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.
As fans of the Dead Ball Era, we always enjoy trying to figure out who the players are. 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.
Here’s a couple interesting observations:
- Check out the neat team bus, vintage 1913. On the door it says: “ACME Auto Taxi Car.”
- Ironically, Morrie Rath was the Reds’ batter hit by Eddie Cicotte in the 1919 Black Sox World Series as Cicotte’s signal to gamblers that the “fix was on.”
- George 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.
- Shano Collins and Ray Schalk were still with the team at the time of the infamous 1919 “Black Sox” scandal, but they were always considered clean.
- Hall-of-Famers in the photo are Ray Schalk and Big Ed Walsh.
- Trainer Doc Buckner was one of the first African-American trainers in the game.
- Not sure who the little girl is, possibly a child of Ed Walsh.
Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: Featured photo found on ebay. All others from Google search
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