1880s cabinet photo id
 

I know it's a longshot but want to ask anyway. This came in a large group of baseball cards from the 1800s-1970s. The only thing on back is a penciled 1881. The player looks familiar but I can't place him as far as a name goes. Any and all help is appreciated. It is the normal size of a cabinet card...

Just a wild guess, Roger Connor?

Looks a bit like Roger Connor, anyway wishful thinking for Leon

http://mlblogscatscorner.files.wordp...er20conner.jpg

My first instincts before looking at the other guy's response was Roger Connor as well. I hope for your sake it is! :)

Close but no cigar--not Connor

I don't think so either...why is "Ryan" coming to mind? Is there a Ryan in 19th century stuff? N29?

There is a slight resemblance to Jimmy Ryan who would have been 18 in 1881.

Thanks Gary. The 1881 is only lightly handwritten and might not be from the original time at all. From cabinets I have seen it seems this one should date to the later 1880s, but I am not an expert.

He could be the guy from the Dubuque cabinet - the top of his head looks the same :)

I agree with others that it's not Ryan or Connor. I'm thinking these two guys look fairly generic, as I've also had 1800's photos that I thought might be one of them.

I say probably not even a ballplayer. We know that people have been passing off lookalikes for a long time now (ie the bad photos in Halper's collection).

With the collection this came from I do have a strong feeling it's a baseball player. Whether it is ever positively id'd or not, who knows. I don't get in the habit of calling everything I see, and don't know what it is, the best possible thing it could possibly be. If I did I would be saying this just could be Joe Jackson's father!!

Possibly, but I would have thought the same thing if I bought Barry Halper's collection. Unless it can be identified, without any provenance it's just another 19th century dude. And yes I realize that this post is trying to identify him...for your sake I hope it can be identified as a ballplayer. :)

It looks a whole lot like Jimmy Ryan to me. I wonder if Mark F. has any exemplars he can use to possibly confirm. As far as the date of 1881, the cabinet is likely late 1880's which would coincide with his career.

However, he was neither born in or ever played at Lancaster, so that's a problem. Either Ryan or a close look alike.

Similar to be sure, but not the same. Even the ears are somewhat alike, but differently shaped towards the bottom.

Thanks Mark (and others)....nice photo comparison too.

Those are some great mustaches, rare to see folks with staches that solid nowadays.

I looked through all of my 19th century books, and couldn't find any matches.

Side by side you can see the difference. Thanks Mark.

Leon,

With your only clue being that this photo came in a "lot" of baseball items, can you provide some information on the other items? Perhaps locations of other photographers, teams etc....