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Miller Huggins Photo Gallery
Why Is Miller Huggins in This 1903 Reds Team Photo (Since He Didn’t Join the Team Until 1904)?
“Any ballplayers that played for me on either the Cardinals or the Yankees could come to me if he were in need and I would give him a helping hand. I made only two exceptions, Carl Mays and Joe Bush. If they were in a gutter, I’d kick them.” -Miller Huggins
While waiting for the Classic Era committee to announce their decision on Hall of Fame selections this week (Dick Allen is in!) I’ve been working on the player identification for this 1903 Reds team photo that was sent to me by Tom Ford which he found in Baseball Photography of the Deadball Era.
Tom and I were able to complete the identifications, but we had one small problem: the player in the top row second from left sure looked to us to be Miller Huggins. The problem was that Hug didn’t join the team until 1904…so why would he be in the 1903 team photo?
After comparing this player to other known photos of Miller Huggins, we were sure this had to be the “Mighty Mite.” So as I usually do when an identification problem arises, I conferred with our crack baseball researcher Don Stokes. Don agreed with us that it certainly looked like Huggins. And then, doing research as only Don can do, he came across an item he found from the September 1903 Minneapolis Times (I’ll quote the relevant passage):
“Miller Huggins the clever little second baseman of the St. Paul team has signed a Cincinnati contract. The National League season closes one week later than the American Association thus “Hug” may make his debut as a Red this fall. Huggins has not only electrified the fans of the Association by his fielding but he has hit the ball at a surprising clip…”
It’s maybe not one hundred percent definitive, but it provides a valid reason as to why Miller Huggins shows up in this 1903 Reds team photo, even though he didn’t officially make his major league debut until 1904: He was signed by the Reds in September of 1903 and there was a chance he might play before the season ended.
In case you’re interested here’s the complete player identifications:
1903 Cincinnati Reds
Top Row, L-R: Ed Poole, Miller Huggins*, Cozy Dolan, Harry Joe Kelley* (mgr.), Tommy Corcoran, Heinie Peitz. Front row, L-R: Bill Bergen, Jack Sutthoff, “Turkey” Mike Donlin, Jake Beckley*, Cy Seymour, Jack Morrissey, Jimmy Wiggs.
*Hall of Fame
Gary Livacari
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Photo Credits: 1903 Reds team photo from Getty Images; all others from Google search; Miller Huggins colorizations by Don Stokes
