frank wickware, hot springs 1916

Here’s an extraordinary photograph from the collection of Brian Campf, showing Frank Wickware in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1916, chatting with three ladies, including Constance Hoblitzell (in the middle, wearing sunglasses), the wife of major league first basemen Dick Hoblitzell.  According to Brian, writing on the back of the photograph refers to Wickware as “the Negro Walter Johnson,” probably in reference to Wickware’s defeat of Johnson at Schenectady in 1913.

Photos of Frank Wickware are relatively unusual, and most don’t give an especially clear image of him.  Here’s this one compared to a couple of the best ones I’ve seen (L to R, 1916, 1918, 1913):