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1908 Cubs Photo Gallery
Our (Very Little!) Contribution to Baseball History:
A Discovery in Two 1908 Cubs Team Photos!
Recently, Tom Ford and I worked on identifying the players in two team photos of the 1908 World Series champion Cubs. The photos were both taken at the Cubs home ballpark, Westside Grounds. Under manager Frank Chance, the 1908 Cubs posted a 99-55 (.643) record and finished a game ahead of the Giants. They went on to defeat the Tigers in the 1908 World Series for their second consecutive World Series championship. This team included four future Hall of Famers: manager Frank Chance, second baseman Johnny Evers, shortstop Joe Tinker, and pitcher Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown.
Over the course of our investigations, we made a discovery which I think has a bit of historical significance. The first photo is the featured photo above. It was beautifully colorized by Mark Doyle Photography. The second is the well-known photo of the same 1908 Cubs posed with a polar bear (see below). Looking at the expressions on the Cubs’ faces, they don’t seem too thrilled to be in the staged photo with a (fake) bear!
(Complete player identifications for both photos below at end of post)
As I observed the two photos while doing the identifications, I noticed that they appeared to include the same group of players, so the thought occurred to me: Could the two photos possibly have been taken on the same day?
Hmm…Then I noticed that the players in the top photo all had clean uniforms; while in the second, some of the uniforms were dirty. Maybe, I thought, one was taken before the game that was played on that day (the top photo with clean uniforms), and then the other one was taken after the game (the second photo with dirty uniforms).
Maybe I was on to something. When I suggested this idea to Tom, he responded with his own observation that I don’t think anyone else has ever made. Here’s what Tom found:
In the first photo, between the last two players in the top row (the players are Vin Campbell and Pat Moran), Tom observed a little guy with a mustache and wearing a white hat. Look closely and you’ll see him. This was definitely a 1908 version of a photo bomb!
Now follow me closely here:
In the second photo with the bear, just to the right of the last player in the line, Solly Hofman, you can make out the same little guy in the white hat with a mustache! (see blow-up photo on right). You might need a magnifying glass to see him, but trust me, he’s there! Whoever that little guy was, of course, has been long lost to history.
Then Tom made the further observation that the fans in both photos are all grouped together in the right field area of the grandstands for some unknown reason, further confirming that the two photos were taken on the same day: one before the game, and one after it was played.
I know it’s a very minor historical discovery, but I like to think we’ve contributed just a little bit to baseball history!
[Editor’s Update: In reviewing the top photo now for about the umpteenth time, I’ve just noticed that there’s a guy standing on the roof, just above the six support pole. I also wonder who he might be? Funny what you discover when you look closely at an old photo! -GL]
[Second update: Thanks to our crack baseball researcher Don Stokes for uncovering that the game was played on July 10, 1908, between the Cubs and the Phillies. The Cubs won 3-2 behind a complete game thrown by “Three Finger” Brown].
[Third Update: In looking closer at the two photos, it now appears that the uniforms in both photos are dirty. So, as Don Stokes suggested, they may have been taken just a few minutes apart. I may have been mistaken about being before and after the game, but we were right about both being taken on the same day].
1908 Cubs Team Photos
Here’s the ID’s for the featured “clean uniform” photo: Top Row, L-R: Heinie Zimmerman, Ed Reulbach, Chick Fraser, Jack Pfiester, Kid Durbin, Jack McCormick (team trainer), Harry Steinfeldt, Carl Lundgren, Vin Campbell, Pat Moran. Front Row, L-R: Orval Overall, Mordecai “Three Fingers” Brown, Del Howard, Johnny Kling, Johnny Evers, Frank Chance, Joe Tinker, Jimmy Slagle, Jimmy Sheckard, Frank “Wildfire” Schulte, Solly Hofman.
Here’s the identifications for the “dirty uniform” second photo with the bear: L-R: Jimmy Sheckard, Ed Reulbach, Jimmy Slagle, Heinie Zimmerman, Joe Tinker, Carl Lundgren, Kid Durbin, Frank Chance, Del Howard, Johnny Evers, Harry Steinfeldt, Orvie Overall, and Solly Hoffman
We’d love to hear what you think about this or any other related baseball history topic…please leave comments below.
Gary Livacari
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Photo Credits: Featured photo from Mark Doyle Photgraphy; All others from Google search
Very good detective work, Gary!
You’ll earn your Pinkerton Badge if you can identify that guy on the roof and guy in bowler hat down the right field line standing behind a podium.
Check out the post again, Paul. I just put in a blow-up of the little guy with the mostache in the white hat. He actually looks like photos I’ve seen of my great-grandfather, Luigi Livacari, who lived near West Side Grounds. Could it be!! (haha!)
Not the same guy I was referring. Go to the left end of the team and there is someone further down right field standing behind what appears to be a podium in a bowler hat…(Where’sWaldo?)
Well…he could be relative too! After all, Luigi has two brothers. Also, check out the guy on the roof. I hope he wasn’t drinking that day!