Gambo and T_Wil1 Photopack - Page 1894

Merkle923 · 12-25-2025, 05:58 PM

A most curious wire photo popped up recently. On June 15, 1958 the Cardinals traded Dick Schofield to the Pirates for infielders Gene Freese and Johnny O'Brien. The next day Freese and O'Brien reported to the Cards in Milwaukee and posed for the obligatory photo with manager Fred Hutchinson.

This is the first O'Brien/Cardinals I've ever seen and the only Freese/Cardinals I've encountered is a much-trimmed detail from what might have been an early color Brace. The brevity of their St. Louis careers can't be overstated. Freese played only 62 games with the Cards and did not succeed when they tried to make him a shortstop. O'Brien - of the famed basketball twins from the University of Washington who share a great 1954 Topps card - got into only twelve games and went down to Rochester thereafter. He went in the Rule V draft to the Phillies that fall, and then finished up with the Braves in '59.

But there's an additional weird twist about the third man in the image. The Cardinals fired Hutchinson with a dozen or so games left, and then on the last day of the season sent Freese to Philadelphia for Solly Hemus - whom they promptly named Player-Manager (the last man to try that for a full season in the National League).

I suspect the Freese image Topps used in 1959 is an airbrushed shot of him in a Cardinals' uniform at Wrigley Field but I don't recall now if there were any images of him in that jersey in the late lamented Topps Vault. The shot could be doctored Pittsburgh garb (they didn't adopt the vest style until 1957; on the other hand Topps isn't known to have done any photography at Chicago before 1957). The O'Brien shot with an airbrushed Braves cap is a very tight portrait with no way to tell what it was before their DaVincis got going on it.

Here's the original AP image and isos of Freese and O'Brien, cleaned up a little (the wire shot is blurrier than usual):

UKBaseballfan · 12-26-2025, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patsy Tebeau

I need some new Ed Doheny pictures for a project, thank you.

Not sure how you are defining new but here are all the images of Ed Doheny I have.

First Five of Seven. 1898, 1900,1901 Pittsburgh, 1901 New York and 1903.

UKBaseballfan · 12-26-2025, 01:29 PM

Image 6 and 7 of Ed Doheny. 1897 and 1903.

Patsy Tebeau · 12-26-2025, 02:32 PM

These are absolutely wonderful thank you so much

RUKen · 12-26-2025, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UKBaseballfan

Not sure how you are defining new but here are all the images of Ed Doheny I have.

First Five of Seven. 1898, 1900,1901 Pittsburgh, 1901 New York and 1903.

The middle man in that group of five is not Ed Doheny; I believe it's Jimmy Burke. Doheny is just to the right of him in that group picture. I've attached below an excerpt of the two of them from that photograph.

Patsy Tebeau · 12-26-2025, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RUKen

The middle man in that group of five is not Ed Doheny; I believe it's Jimmy Burke. Doheny is just to the right of him in that group picture. I've attached below an excerpt of the two of them from that photograph.

I was gonna say that one didn't really look like him thank you too

Patsy Tebeau · 12-26-2025, 03:14 PM

Thank you everyone for your efforts!

UKBaseballfan · 12-27-2025, 02:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RUKen

The middle man in that group of five is not Ed Doheny; I believe it's Jimmy Burke. Doheny is just to the right of him in that group picture. I've attached below an excerpt of the two of them from that photograph.

Thank you !!

Merkle923 · 12-27-2025, 07:58 PM

Isolated from that marvelously moody, ominous team photo of the 1900 Giants - a larger version of the thumbnail posted previously

There are some flaws in the image because this is an iPhone shot of the actual team picture, framed on my wall.

cinemaodyssey · 12-31-2025, 04:57 AM

Prewinter discovered that Blackbourn pitched 1 inning in 1921 for the Chicago White Sox. He was the brother of Lisle Blackbourn, who was head coach for the Green Bay Packers in the 1950s. FamilySearch.org has several nice pictures of Verne and his family.

UKBaseballfan · 12-31-2025, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cinemaodyssey

Prewinter discovered that Blackbourn pitched 1 inning in 1921 for the Chicago White Sox. He was the brother of Lisle Blackbourn, who was head coach for the Green Bay Packers in the 1950s. FamilySearch.org has several nice pictures of Verne and his family.

Amazing research!

Checking Baseball Reference that lists him as pitching an inning for the 1921 Chicago White Sox under his page. However when you check the 1921 Chicago White Sox page there is a mention of Charlie Blackburn but no mention of Verne Blackbourn who I assume is a different person. I guess this is because, to date, it is not known when or against who that inning was pitched?

prewinter · 12-31-2025, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UKBaseballfan

Amazing research!

Checking Baseball Reference that lists him as pitching an inning for the 1921 Chicago White Sox under his page. However when you check the 1921 Chicago White Sox page there is a mention of Charlie Blackburn but no mention of Verne Blackbourn who I assume is a different person. I guess this is because, to date, it is not known when or against who that inning was pitched?

Verne Blackbourn pitched one inning in relief of Roy Wilkinson on September 2, 1921. The Chicago Tribune game report from September 3 explicitly names him, along with a note that he was with South Haven that summer. However, at some point as records were being compiled, that appearance was attributed to Charlie Blackburn, and no one checked.

I was looking at Charlie Blackburn to understand why his two major league league appearances were so far apart with no other record in between when I found the Tribune article. Verification of Verne's record was easy from there, as his hometown paper was very proud of his career.

prewinter · 12-31-2025, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chickazoola

Thanks to cinemaodyssey, I was able to locate a photo of John W. Bates, who pitched for the 1889 Kansas City Cowboys.

He is pictured in a team photo of the 1888 South Bend club. The photo appeared on ebay some time ago and cinemaodyssey saved the image.

The photo has a year of 87 on it, but the presence of Jim Tray and Billy Hart in the bottom row suggest it is the 1888 squad. The roster on bb-ref confirms it.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...gi?id=129b7d13

John Bates is currently listed sans first name on bb-ref's South Bend roster (2 Bates are listed, but this appears to be a mistake), but notes in the 1888 papers in Rockford confirm it is the same guy and it is indeed John Bates who appeared for South Bend.

Is there a better image of this photo in which the names are clearer? This is regarding a photo posted with John Bates back in 2018.

cinemaodyssey · 01-01-2026, 05:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prewinter

Is there a better image of this photo in which the names are clearer? This is regarding a photo posted with John Bates back in 2018.

This was featured in the 2/7/1932 edition of The South Bend Tribune.

prewinter · 01-02-2026, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cinemaodyssey

This was featured in the 2/7/1932 edition of The South Bend Tribune.

Thank you!

Patsy Tebeau · 01-04-2026, 04:01 PM

Who is this player? I saw him in a slideshow of classic Red Sox players with no name attached to his face.

12-25-2025, 05:58 PM	#37861
Merkle923 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2013 Posts: 2,210	Gene Freese 1955 Johnny O'Brien 1953 (in 1958) A most curious wire photo popped up recently. On June 15, 1958 the Cardinals traded Dick Schofield to the Pirates for infielders Gene Freese and Johnny O'Brien. The next day Freese and O'Brien reported to the Cards in Milwaukee and posed for the obligatory photo with manager Fred Hutchinson. This is the first O'Brien/Cardinals I've ever seen and the only Freese/Cardinals I've encountered is a much-trimmed detail from what might have been an early color Brace. The brevity of their St. Louis careers can't be overstated. Freese played only 62 games with the Cards and did not succeed when they tried to make him a shortstop. O'Brien - of the famed basketball twins from the University of Washington who share a great 1954 Topps card - got into only twelve games and went down to Rochester thereafter. He went in the Rule V draft to the Phillies that fall, and then finished up with the Braves in '59. But there's an additional weird twist about the third man in the image. The Cardinals fired Hutchinson with a dozen or so games left, and then on the last day of the season sent Freese to Philadelphia for Solly Hemus - whom they promptly named Player-Manager (the last man to try that for a full season in the National League). I suspect the Freese image Topps used in 1959 is an airbrushed shot of him in a Cardinals' uniform at Wrigley Field but I don't recall now if there were any images of him in that jersey in the late lamented Topps Vault. The shot could be doctored Pittsburgh garb (they didn't adopt the vest style until 1957; on the other hand Topps isn't known to have done any photography at Chicago before 1957). The O'Brien shot with an airbrushed Braves cap is a very tight portrait with no way to tell what it was before their DaVincis got going on it. Here's the original AP image and isos of Freese and O'Brien, cleaned up a little (the wire shot is blurrier than usual): Attached Images

12-26-2025, 01:29 PM	#37863
UKBaseballfan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 6,712 Infractions: 0/1 (2)	Ed Doheny 1905 Image 6 and 7 of Ed Doheny. 1897 and 1903. Attached Images Last edited by UKBaseballfan; 12-26-2025 at 01:51 PM.

12-26-2025, 02:32 PM	#37864
Patsy Tebeau All Star Starter Join Date: Aug 2023 Location: Wilkes-Barre, PA Posts: 1,461	These are absolutely wonderful thank you so much __________________ They say follow your heart Follow it through But how can you When it's split in two?

12-26-2025, 03:14 PM	#37867
Patsy Tebeau All Star Starter Join Date: Aug 2023 Location: Wilkes-Barre, PA Posts: 1,461	Thank you everyone for your efforts! __________________ They say follow your heart Follow it through But how can you When it's split in two?

12-27-2025, 07:58 PM	#37869
Merkle923 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2013 Posts: 2,210	Ed Doheny 1895 Isolated from that marvelously moody, ominous team photo of the 1900 Giants - a larger version of the thumbnail posted previously There are some flaws in the image because this is an iPhone shot of the actual team picture, framed on my wall. Attached Images

12-31-2025, 04:57 AM	#37870
cinemaodyssey Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 2,032	Verne Blackbourn 1921 Prewinter discovered that Blackbourn pitched 1 inning in 1921 for the Chicago White Sox. He was the brother of Lisle Blackbourn, who was head coach for the Green Bay Packers in the 1950s. FamilySearch.org has several nice pictures of Verne and his family. Attached Images

01-04-2026, 04:01 PM	#37876
Patsy Tebeau All Star Starter Join Date: Aug 2023 Location: Wilkes-Barre, PA Posts: 1,461	Player identity Who is this player? I saw him in a slideshow of classic Red Sox players with no name attached to his face. Attached Images __________________ They say follow your heart Follow it through But how can you When it's split in two? Last edited by Patsy Tebeau; Yesterday at 01:46 AM.