rogelio valdés at bat, atlantic city 1905

Here’s an extreme rarity—an action photo of a game involving a black baseball team, published in a mainstream newspaper in 1905.  It shows Rogelio Valdés of the Cuban X Giants batting against the Atlantic City club at Inlet Park in early July.  Assuming the image hasn’t been reversed, this would mean that Valdés, a right-handed batter according to Jorge Figueredo, actually hit left-handed, or at least switch-hit.

(Philadelphia Inquirer, July 5, 1905, p. 13)