Brockelman January 2019 Auction

Just prior to the turn of the century cabinet photo dated Aug. 22, 1897 on a mount from Elite Studio, No. 23 South Limestone St. Springfield, Ohio, featuring ten young men and all of the their baseball gear. Each is named on the back, as well as the only clue that ties where they were at, penned at the top in the same hand as the date is "Sael Schafer", which was Schaefer School that existed in early Springfield history. The players listed order on the back are: Howard ____, Charlie Blount(sp), Frank Rimshing(sp), Ben Printz(sp), Orth Ruckman, Archie Curry, Cal? ___, Luther Beard, John Limon(sp) and George Currier. Several of these young men appear in the Springfield or Clark county census data from 1880,1900,1910 and later. Oddly many of them were 18-19 years old in the photo, so it was almost certainly a secondary school or further education of some type. Standard cabinet size 6 7/16" x 4 3/16" when viewed horizontally. A nice image with no flaws and enough period data to tie it to a place and ID'd student/players, make for a much better than the average cabinet. Two bats, a ball, a bird cage catchers mask, straw hats and baseball caps, all visible in the photo.