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Photo Identifiction Help
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Hi-
I recently acquired the photo scanned below at the Shriner's show in Wilmington MA and I had a question about the player pictured with McGraw. Does anyone know who it could be? On the bottom of the photo it has McGraw's name and something like Buck Lee? The dealer I purchased it from thought it was Buck Leonard but I do not think it is. I like it for the McGraw image but would like to know the other player's identity. Any ideas? Thanks in advance, Alan Elefson aelefson@hotmail.com |
It appears to be Buck Lai, a minor league player for Bridgeport 1918-1921 and Jersey City 1928 who was born in Hawaii.
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Can you post a closer-cropped scan of Buck's head?
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A brief biography of Buck Lai from Baseballlibrary.com:
William "Buck" Lai was reported by The Sporting News and the New York Times as being the first Chinese major leaguer, though that was a long stretch of the truth. While Lai is a Chinese name, Buck, who was born in Hawaii in 1894, was of mostly European heritage. Signed by the Pirates in 1918 he played infield briefly in spring training for the Bucs. For the rest of the season, Lai played for Bridgeport in the Eastern League. Over the next decade, Lai played minor league and semipro ball in the New York area, starring for the semipro Brooklyn Bushwicks, where he attracted the attention of John McGraw. The Giants signed Lai in 1928 and Lai again played only in spring training. Lai took an All-Hawaii team, consisted of semi-pro Hawaii Leagueplayers, for barnstoming in the US and Canada in 1935, winning 47 games andlosing 77 with 2 ties. The team was called the Chinese All-Stars on themainland. Buck wrote the popular Championship Baseball in 1954, which was used in the Dodgers' system. His son, Buck Lai Jr., was the baseball and basketball coach at Long Island University, as well as a scout for the Dodgers. |
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Wow, thanks guys! I will try to post a closer scan of just Buck's Head but I think RUKen and Dan are right on. I really appreciate the information. I had no idea there would be an interesting story behind the photo.
Thank you, Alan |
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