philadelphia giants, 1909

A couple of years ago I posted this photograph, which had been wrongly labeled as the 1906 Philadelphia Giants, and was claimed to picture Rube Foster and Sol White.

As I pointed out at the time, in fact this is the 1909 Philadelphia Giants, and Foster and White aren’t in the photograph, though it does include John Henry Lloyd and Spot Poles, among others.

Bill Mullins has found the photograph published in the New York Press on September 12, 1909, with the players identified:

The caption might be a little hard to read, so here’s what it says:

“Top row, left to right—Poles, centre field; Fisher, pitcher; Emory, pitcher; Hayman, pitcher; Lloyd, shortstop; McClellan, pitcher.  Second row—Duncan, left field; Petway, catcher; H. Walter Schlichter, manager; Wilson (captain), first base; Patton, right field and pitcher.  Bottom row—Francis, third base; James, second base.”

These would be the first confirmed images of pitchers Jerry Fisher, John Emory, Sy “Bugs” Hayman, and James Patton.  Very cool, and thanks to Bill.