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The Leslie Jones Boston Public Library Baseball Collection Photo Gallery
Click on any image below to see photos in full size and to start Photo Gallery:
The Leslie Jones Boston Public Library Baseball Collection, Part 1
Leslie Jones was the sports photographer for the Boston Globe from the 1930’s into the early 1960’s. The vast majority of his work was from baseball’s Golden Age of the 1930’s. During this long span, he amassed a photographic collection of the Boston Red Sox and Boston Braves of close to 3000 pictures. Almost all of the photos were taken at Fenway Park or Braves Field.
The collection was stored away in the recesses of the Boston Public Library and was largely forgotten. In 2011, someone from the Boston Public Library rediscovered this treasure trove. But there was one problem: Almost all of the players in the photos (other than the obvious star players) were unidentified. The Boston Public Library then contacted The Society For American baseball Research (SABR) asking for help in identifying the pictures. I was asked to join the team headed by author Mark Stang tasked with identifying the players in the photos.
My concentration was with individual and group identifications, while Mark and others did most of the action shots. Many photos were easy to identify, but others required massive amounts of research, time, and effort. It always gave me a wonderful feeling of satisfaction when I could positively identify some obscure, long-forgotten ballplayer from the ’30’s or ’40’s who would otherwise be totally lost to history. We didn’t get them all, but I’d guess we identified about 85-90% of the players in the photos
This historic collection included many individual and small group shots, team pictures, fans, gag shots, action shots, locker room shots, celebrities, players’ wives, umpires, front office personnel…you name it…if it had anything to do with Boston baseball during this period, it’s in this collection. There’s also a lot of shots taken during Red Sox-Braves interleague exhibition games. It provides a wonderful “taste” of baseball as it existed during this golden, bygone era, and also serves as a great slice of “Americana” from the ’30’s and 40’s.
There are some extremely rare photos in this amazing collection, including some never-before-seen pictures of star players like Ruth, DiMaggio, Williams, Foxx, Cronin, and Grove. There’s a lot of shots of Ruth from his last year 1935 as a member of the Boston Braves. Since the collection covers both the National League (the Braves and their NL opponents), and the American League (the Red Sox and their AL opponents), many lesser-known and largely forgotten players from both leagues are featured in the collection.
I thought it would be fun to post some of the best from the collection. The featured photo below is one of my favorites: Casey Stengel with some of his Boston Bees players, wonderfully colorized by Don Stokes. Click on the link to see more from the Leslie Jones Boston Public Library baseball collection:
Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: All from Boston Public Library Leslie Jones Collection; Colorization by Don Stokes: https://www.facebook.com/Don-Stokes-Old-Time-Baseball-Colorizations-923346241033508/
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My wife’s grandfather wssa pitcher for the Boston Braves from 1932 to 1935. I have many photographs from that era. I also have a baseball cap that belonged to Wally Berger. Not sure how he ended up with it. His name was Waler M Betts better known as Huck.
Thanks Earl. We’ve talked about this a couple times. I’m familiar with Huck Betts and I’d like to do a post about him if you and your wife are interested. If so, please contact me. -Gary
I am a SABR member and am doing research on the Braves in that era. I am writing several brief biographies of the players, and Mr. Betts is on my list. I would be very interested in corresponding with Mrs. Ziegler. Her input would aid the biography tremendously.
Very nice site. I just discovered this.
Hi Bob-
I’ll send you Earl Ziegler’s e-mail to you privately so you can contact them. You can mention that I gave you the contact information.