Complete Universe Facegen Pack

[LansdowneSt]

Gustave “Gus” Getz was perhaps the personification of the “good field, no hit” player. Typical of the Deadball Era, Getz relied on his glove, his ability to make contact with the bat, and his speed on the base paths to make it in professional baseball. Though he never achieved outstanding baseball success, he possessed a knack for appearing at the right place at the right time.

In his later years, he yearned for the [Deadball Era] game of his youth and young adulthood. He lamented the clean, lively baseball with all its home runs, the decreased reliance on the stolen base, the lost art of playing for one run, and the lack of pitchers’ complete games. “One thing is certain,” said Getz, “it wasn’t like that years ago.” - SABR bio

Based on the picture of him with the Braves (1909) at age 19 and with Brooklyn (1916) at age 26, one aged quicker back then or it was a rough seven years for Gus. I used the Brooklyn photo and smoothed it out some to make him younger but the more I look at the photo, the more I think this is an old-timer's game photo of him. So, not quite a perfect mid-point between the pull but as I've said, I try to use the photo that will show through as much character as possible...

[LansdowneSt]

Crese Heismann was born in Cincinnati, played ball in Cincinnati, and died in Cincinnati. The left-handed pitcher posted a 2-5 record with a 4.74 ERA in 11 total games from 1901 to 1902.

Redid the facegen not on the bRef photo like the former facegen, nor the newsprint one from the Photopack but the better one I found on ancestry.com as his progeny was kind enough to post his wedding picture.

I found no personal anecdotes on him as a ballplayer but he and the blushing bride looked lovely. On the marriage license he indicated that he lived at the corner of W McMillan St & Flora St (that's for you BigRed)

[BigRed75]

Originally Posted by LansdowneSt

Crese Heismann was born in Cincinnati, played ball in Cincinnati, and died in Cincinnati. The left-handed pitcher posted a 2-5 record with a 4.74 ERA in 11 total games from 1901 to 1902.

The real question is, where did he go to high school? And was he a West Sider or and East Sider?

(Those from Cincinnati will get the joke. Those who aren't, well...carry on)

I'm guessing he was from the West Side, btw. A lot of the Germans settled in the West Side. I remember playing ball against kids whose last names were so long they stretched from the left armpit to the right armpit on the backs of their jerseys

[LansdowneSt]

Sometimes cited as the worst player in major-league history, John Gochnaur played shortstop for Cleveland in 1902 and 1903. His batting statistics those two seasons are amazingly similar, as he hit a lowly .185 with 16 doubles and four triples each year. His 1903 stats did show 17 more sacrifices and 11 more stolen bases than the year before. The lakeshore fans might have welcomed him back again in 1904 had it not been for a severe drop-off in his fielding. - SABR

Redid the facegen.

[LansdowneSt]

Patrick Joseph Livingston was no Bill Dickey, and he was not even close to Roger Bresnahan, or any other catchers during the Dead Ball Era; but he made his mark on baseball. When he died on September 19, 1977, of an aneurism at the age of 97, he was the oldest former major leaguer at the time, and the last surviving player from the American League’s inaugural season of 1901. - SABR

Redid the facegen.

[Amazin69]

(Rangers 3, Tigers 2. They led most of the game, but Claudell tied it with a solo shot in the bottom of the 7th. Gibson led off the 8th with a double, advanced on a grounder and scored on an SF. But a tiring Tom Terrific gave up 2b/1b/1b to the bottom of the order to tie the game, walked Melvin Barrow to load the bases and Keith Hernandez had the game-winning SF.

Tom got out of the inning without further damage and Matlack gave up 1-out and 2-out singles in the 9th, but he got the last out to end the game.)

Meanwhile…backing up Andre Dawson in LA is Greg Smith. No, not the Greg Smith who played IF for the Cubs later in the decade (nor the Greg Smith who pitched after that), but the guy who IRL drove in 109 runs for single-A Lodi in 1983. Unfortunately, he was 24 at the time, and so soon ended up in the Padre chain, where he had strong years for AA-Beaumont and AAA Las Vegas. Which got him a "did you know you're 27?" speech, and bounced to the Rangers chain, where a disappointing year at Wichita in 1987 got him a brochure about how exciting the Mexican League could be and a hearty "Vaya con Dios".

Greg got 6 years' worth of senoritas and Margaritas down south. (Perhaps even a senorita named "Margarita" or two.) But Sim Greg is probably far happier being on the MLBPA pension. Not to mention the Dodger dogs.



Just one pic (with shadows), but I trust you.

[LansdowneSt]

Mike J Lynch had an undefeated record as a pitcher for Brown University and had a 43-32 record in the majors. He attended law school during his major-league playing days, eventually graduating from Boston University School of Law. He went on to a successful legal career in Providence, RI, especially in the area of corporate law. He served on several boards of directors. He died of a heart attack in 1927, shortly before his 47th birthday.

Got a better picture of him through ancestry.com thanks to his family and used that to model the facegen off of.

[LansdowneSt]

Here's Greg Smith in a Dodger's away uniform of the era. Dawson's knees can't last forever even out of Montreal...

[LansdowneSt]

“Pembroke Finlayson” was surely a mouthful of a name for a 5-foot-6, 140-pound lad. Known as the “Midget Twirler,” young Mr. Finlayson made two very brief appearances in major-league baseball, pitching for the Brooklyn club, before reaching the age of 22. He might have worked his way back to the bigs if he’d only made it to age 23.

Nineteen year-old Finlayson made his major league debut on June 6, 1908, pitching for the Brooklyn Superbas at home against the Cincinnati Reds. He was brought in to start the fourth inning and promptly walked the first three batters. The fourth batter bunted back to the pitcher; Finlayson threw home, but not in time, and the batter reached first on the fielder's choice. He then walked the next batter and was taken out of the game. All of the remaining base runners later scored in that inning, and Finlayson did not appear in another major league game that year. His 1908 ERA was 135.00.

In 1912, he was diagnosed with a heart problem for which he had surgery, and then he tried to come back to baseball too soon and overstressed himself, leaving his wife and two young children.

Redid the facegen. It took a lot of smoothing to eliminate the newsprint dots. Couldn't shake the dark patches under the eyes and after an hour decided I could live with them...

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by LansdowneSt

“Pembroke Finlayson” was surely a mouthful of a name for a 5-foot-6, 140-pound lad. Known as the “Midget Twirler,” young Mr. Finlayson made two very brief appearances in major-league baseball, pitching for the Brooklyn club, before reaching the age of 22. He might have worked his way back to the bigs if he’d only made it to age 23.

Nineteen year-old Finlayson made his major league debut on June 6, 1908, pitching for the Brooklyn Superbas at home against the Cincinnati Reds. He was brought in to start the fourth inning and promptly walked the first three batters. The fourth batter bunted back to the pitcher; Finlayson threw home, but not in time, and the batter reached first on the fielder's choice. He then walked the next batter and was taken out of the game. All of the remaining base runners later scored in that inning, and Finlayson did not appear in another major league game that year. His 1908 ERA was 135.00.

In 1912, he was diagnosed with a heart problem for which he had surgery, and then he tried to come back to baseball too soon and overstressed himself, leaving his wife and two young children.

Redid the facegen. It took a lot of smoothing to eliminate the newsprint dots. Couldn't shake the dark patches under the eyes and after an hour decided I could live with them...

Yeah that's a beauty there bud, nice work.

[LansdowneSt]

Several things are memorable about the career of pitcher Bill Bailey, but unfortunately, almost none of those things would be considered pleasant memories. Most notably, Bailey established a major-league record by experiencing 10 consecutive losing seasons in his 11-year career. Even among the group of pitchers known as 20-game losers, Bailey might be considered something of an overachiever: He was saddled with the 20-loss label once in the Federal League and twice in the minor leagues. It would be easy to overstate Bailey’s struggles as a professional pitcher, but he was largely a victim of dumb luck, having to spend much of his career on poor teams, and pitching in an era where a complete game was the norm. - SABR

Redid the facegen. Just not the same without the ears out...

[LansdowneSt]

Bill Magee had a five-year career as a major league pitcher but moved around a lot, playing for six different team from 1897, when he played his first game with the Louisville Colonels, until 1902, when he wrapped up his career with the Philadelphia Phillies. He went 16-15 and pitched 295 innings for Louisville in 1898. After his playing career, he lived in Buffalo, NY until 1907, when he left his wife and children. There were rumors that he was doing some secret government work, and all trace of him is lost after this time. - bRef Bullpen wiki

Redid the facegen.

[LansdowneSt]

" 'Kid' Nance walked to the plate for the last time, and the shouting was terrific. Everyone knew that he had signed a contract with the Louisville Club of the National League . . . (after the game) A carriage was in waiting, and . . . it was driven around in front of the grandstand, where his legion of friends bid him farewell. Nance is considered to be one of the finest outfielders in the country, and a good hitter, having always batted over .300." - Sporting Life, Aug. 28, 1897

The 'before' facegen was done on the older picture whereas I redid it with the bRef younger photo.

[LansdowneSt]

The highlight of Fred Curtis’s professional baseball career was a two-game appearance in St. Louis subbing for injured rookie first baseman Hal Chase and the 1905 New York Highlanders. Curtis’s personal life, however, hit a tragic low just four years later with the loss of his two infant children in an apartment fire. - SABR

I thought the facegen in the pack aligned well with the pictures. Just needed some color and tweaking.

[luckymann]

Congratulations bud - by my reckoning Fred Curtis is number 500! Of the MLB guys, at any rate.

[LansdowneSt]

Although the circumstances have never been precisely described, it appears that Jim Hackett went on a post-season hunting trip in October 1903. At some point, Hackett’s hand came into contact with poison ivy, which he then spread to his eyes by rubbing them. In short order, his eyes became severely inflamed, necessitating urgent medical intervention. Some newspaper dispatches informed fans that Hackett had lost the vision in his left eye. Another advised that the eye had been surgically removed. And yet others reported that the sight in Hackett’s right had been compromised, as well. Whatever their differences on the extent of the calamity, the media unanimously predicted that Jim Hackett’s baseball career was over.

As it turned out, heroic treatment measures saved Hackett’s sight in both eyes. And for almost the next 60 years, Hackett’s vision allowed him to perform the tasks of everyday life. But playing baseball at the professional level was another matter. Although he would persevere for a near-decade, Hackett’s eyesight had become inadequate for the rigors of the game, and his career went into immediate decline after 1903. Thus in the end, the newspaper forecast on Jim Hackett’s baseball future proved correct. - SABR

The before facegen was saved under the wrong code (ending with jim instead of jam) but I ended up redoing the facegen anyway.

[LansdowneSt]

Walt DeVoy played for the 1909 St. Louis Browns. Appearing mostly in the outfield, he batted .246 in 69 at bats. He accrued 3 doubles and a triple among his 17 hits. After his baseball career, he was a secretary for the Plumbers Supply Company of St. Louis.

Redid the facegen.

[actionjackson]

Great stuff as ever Lansdowne!!!

[LansdowneSt]

Jim Jones made his major league debut for the Louisville Colonels in the (in)famous Chicago Colts-Louisville game of June 29, 1897. Chicago won 36-7; the 36 is still the record for the most runs scored in one game. Jones was charged with 22 runs that day. It should then surprise no one to learn that Jim Jones was an outfielder. - bRef Bullpen wiki

Same facegen but shaped and colored it to look more like the two pictures.

[LansdowneSt]

Big Gene Wright pitched four years in the bigs (1901-04) going 14-26 with a 4.50 ERA and translating to a 70 ERA+ for -3.0 WAR. No anecdotes found for Big Gene.

Created a new facegen for him.