Tintype - what sport if any?

[aquarius31]

Hi, I recently picked up my first tintype. Do you guys think this is even sports related and if so would it be cricket, baseball, other? I would think that the style of the pants, ties, bowler hats and belt seem to indicate a sport of some sort but without any balls, bats etc. it's hard to tell especially for my untrained eyes.

I think it's a cool piece regardless but if anyone has thoughts on this and the timeframe based on the dress please let me know. Thanks.

Additional pictures

[drc]

I would guess they are some likely sort of athletes.

The uniforms are very similar to baseball, but the hats aren't baseball. To me, the hats point to them not being baseball players.

[19cbb]

I don't think the hats can give indication if this is or isn't a baseball-related tintype.

I won't venture to say if it is indeed a baseball tin or not.

What if this dude didn't carry a bat?



'Equipment is king' when buying early images.

[Runscott]

Tough question, but as cheap as it sold, you should just hang onto it.

I once bought a similar photo of a guy wearing a checkered belt, duo-tone shoes, and had a star on his shirt. There was no equipment.

I sold it for about $50, then later spotted the exact same uniform on a player photo in one of the SABR publications, and was able to even i.d. the actual team he played for. I sold short.

[aquarius31]

Thanks everyone for the great information. It's a neat tintype especially for $40 and it sounds like some of these "sports" tintypes go unidentified especially without the actual equipment in hand. Thanks again!

[jbsports33]

Looks more like Cricket or some other sport, they must have been playing something with the style of the pants and belts

[barrysloate]

Maybe bicyclists? No way to know for sure.

[Jcfowler6]

We're they jockeys?

[Runscott]

They aren't cyclists.

I'm guessing they are baseball players. If you compare their uniforms to other photos of similar age where the sport has been identified, I'm sure baseball will be the closest match.

Here's a photo of a ca. 1896 cyclist cabinet I own:

Ed Gaffney - cyclist

[ramram]

Sorry Jimmy but that ain't no ball player. That's a circa 1875 Irish Clogger holding a knee breaker and a bad attitude.

Rob M.

[19cbb]

Rob, more baseball players than irish knee breakers back then in his college in Marshall, Michigan...

[aquarius31]

Originally Posted by 19cbb

'Equipment is king' when buying early images.

Well said Jimmy! Thank you everyone for your thoughts on this tintype. I enjoyed the guesses which included cricket, baseball, jockeys, and cyclists. I'm ok with not knowing the answer...learned a lot from the comments.

I never associated the bowler hats with baseball and I'm not at all saying that it is baseball but it's interesting to see that bowler hats and baseball are not impossible based on Jimmy's great photo and this one.

[GaryPassamonte]

Jimmy- Brook's Half Price Gallery, Marshall, Michigan.

[jbsports33]

not baseball for sure, but maybe some other sport like cricket as mentioned above, or just two dudes that like to dress that way

no way they are ball players

Jimmy

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by jbsports33

not baseball for sure, but maybe some other sport like cricket as mentioned above, or just two dudes that like to dress that way

no way they are ball players

Jimmy

Jimmy, what's your basis for saying this? You can look at photos of ballplayers in some of the 19th century SABR publications, and you'll see guys dressed exactly like this, right down to the funny hats.

[19cbb]

Originally Posted by GaryPassamonte

Jimmy- Brook's Half Price Gallery, Marshall, Michigan.

Beautiful piece Gary!!
Thanks for sharing it.

An irish stone-thrower rioter maybe? ( J/K with Rob )

[D. Bergin]

Can you zoom in on the belt buckles?

[ramram]

To prove my point that Jimmy's CDV might just be a clogger, I found a photo online showing the typically "uniform" of an Irish clogger:

Capture3.JPG

[drc]

A lot of these types of photos, it's impossible to know what it is. Though you can often know what it isn't. That's why it's nice when baseball players are holding a baseball and/or bat. Removes the ambiguity.

With this tintype, they could be baseball players (the uniforms are like baseball uniforms-- except the hats), but you can't be for certain.

[19cbb]

Originally Posted by ramram

To prove my point that Jimmy's CDV might just be a clogger, I found a photo online showing the typically "uniform" of an Irish clogger:

Rob...

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by drc

I would guess they are some likely sort of athletes.

The uniforms are very similar to baseball, but the hats aren't baseball. To me, the hats point to them not being baseball players.

A team cabinet of a late 1880's baseball team just sold on ebay, all wearing bowlers. True, they weren't wearing uniforms, but please tell me - what 1880's sport involved wearing this sort of hat? Cricket? jockeys? wrestlers? Perhaps 'bowlers'?

If any photo shows someone in an athletic uniform, and wearing a bowler, the odds are pretty good that the bowler wasn't part of their uniform. So if the hat precludes them being ball players, it precludes them being any sort of athlete - that leaves us assuming that these were guys who liked wearing athletic uniforms, but weren't athletes. Odd, but I guess it's possible.

I think it's more likely baseball than anything else.

Edited to add: back to the tintype I mentioned earlier. When I originally posted it, I had more than 50% of respondents telling me they did NOT think it was baseball. Ironically, some used the fact that he did NOT have a hat on to explain their thoughts. I later was able to i.d. the actual team that he played for. He just didn't feel like wearing a hat when he had the photo taken, just as these two just felt like wearing bowlers. Perhaps they thought it made them look better for the photo? Who knows.

[Runscott]

I apologize for offending anyone when I jump in these threads with such gusto, but the only thing I collect any more is pre-wwi (generally non-pro) baseball photographs, and we rarely discuss such things here.

Thanks for putting up with me. And Leon - thanks for doing such a helluva job encouraging all sorts of non-card baseball-related discussions. Many of us remember a time when this sort of sub-forum was basically a dead area.

[aquarius31]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Can you zoom in on the belt buckles?

Hi Dave, here are some close ups of the belt buckles. I also included some additional photos at this link.

[aquarius31]

Hi, I was looking through some eBay images and came across this particular one. It's not mine but found the whole scene interesting particularly the guy to the right of the baseball player. The outfit looks identical to the tintype that I originally posted.

So what do you get when you cross a baseball player with a pole vaulter?