Is this a teen Rabbit Maranville?

[The Nasty Nati]

I bought an old tintype of two teen baseball players from what appears to be from around the 1905-1910 era. I mostly bought it because I thought it was a cool photo, but looking at it more, I’m wondering if the player on the right is a young Rabbit Maranville. Below is my case for and against. I’m curious, what do you guys think? Be as harsh as you'd like. I'm no expert.

My Case For: Face & Time Period

• Glove and uniform are circa 1905-ish which is the era when Maranville would have been a teen.
• Tintypes weren’t used as much around 1905, but they were still used during that era as a novelty/cheap photo so it can still be believable that the picture was taken around that time.
• Glove is on his left hand (tintypes are reversed images) and Maranville was right-handed. So that makes sense since he threw with his right hand.
• The biggest reason I think this may be Maranville are all of the facial similarities. Maranville had very distinct large ears and in the attached side by side pictures, the ears look very similar. Especially if you imagine if the teen had buzzed the sides of his head shorter; his ears would be even more pronounced. Also, his nose looks about the same as do his lips. Also, both have light eye color. Not to mention they both seem to have high cheek bones. I’m no facial recognition expert, but they look close.

My Case Against: Team Name

• The biggest indicator to authenticate this photo as being Maranville is matching the team name on his jersey with a team he played on. The name on the boys’ shirts clearly says “awndale.”
• From my research these are the teams that I could find that he could have played on or did: Charles Street Grammar School, Chestnut Street Grammar School, Springfield High School, Springfield Blue Labels, Technical High School (Tigers), New Bedford Whalers, Boston Braves. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean he didn’t play on other teams, but this is just a list of schools and teams that he played on or attended in his youth.
• Maranville is from the Massachusetts area and I believe that “awndale” could most likely be: Lawndale, Dawndale, Fawndale, Pawndale, or Yawndale. From what I could find none of these names/teams were in the Massachusetts area. Lawndale may be the most realistic, but the only thing I could find was a Chicago youth team, but no mention of Maranville.

My gut is telling me it’s not Maranville, but it sure looks like him. What do you think?

(Note: There is nothing written on the back)

[h2oya311]

Very close resemblance, but not quite the same ears (they don't stick out enough on top). Maranville was pretty "stumpy", so I wouldn't expect him to look so lanky vs. his peers. Also, I haven't seen many tintypes from the early 1900s...that's typically a 19th century medium. That's my 1000 foot view. Good luck!

[brianp-beme]

Just a point...I believe his ears are sticking out to a similar degree, but in the earlier photo he has fuller hair on the sides of his head, while in the older photo he is sporting a much closer cropped hairstyle, accentuating the stickoutingnous (new word, please start using it) of his big ol' flappy ears.

Brian

[Leon]

+1 It would be quite late for a tintype. It does look like him though, quite a bit.

Originally Posted by h2oya311

Very close resemblance, but not quite the same ears (they don't stick out enough on top). Maranville was pretty "stumpy", so I wouldn't expect him to look so lanky vs. his peers. Also, I haven't seen many tintypes from the early 1900s...that's typically a 19th century medium. That's my 1000 foot view. Good luck!

[The Nasty Nati]

I wanted to give this a friendly bump to see if anyone else had anymore opinions. The smoking gun would be to identify the name of the team on this players shirt with the name of a team Maranville played on in his youth. Which I haven't been able to do, but his facial features do look similar if not exact.

Originally Posted by h2oya311

Very close resemblance, but not quite the same ears (they don't stick out enough on top). Maranville was pretty "stumpy", so I wouldn't expect him to look so lanky vs. his peers. Also, I haven't seen many tintypes from the early 1900s...that's typically a 19th century medium. That's my 1000 foot view. Good luck!

If the sides of his head was buzzed shorter in the tintype then I do believe his ears would stick out more. And based off the players equipment, the picture was definitely taken in the early 1900s. Tintypes were still used during that time but more as a novelty/fun photo so it's still plausible. I will agree with you that the teen in this photo does look rather lanky, whereas Maranville was only around 5'5''. But you could assume that the teen was going through a short growth spurt and teens in general are rather lanky until they get stocker in their 20s & 30s. Still, that is a valid point.

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

Just a point...I believe his ears are sticking out to a similar degree, but in the earlier photo he has fuller hair on the sides of his head, while in the older photo he is sporting a much closer cropped hairstyle, accentuating the stickoutingnous (new word, please start using it) of his big ol' flappy ears.
Brian

Agreed.

Originally Posted by Leon

+1 It would be quite late for a tintype. It does look like him though, quite a bit.

I will agree with you that it is rather late for a tintype, but if you look at the equipment the teens are wearing it looks more early 1900s than late 1800s. And in my research people still did tintype photos in the early 1900s, but yes they were rarer.

[dbrown]

This MLB page lists early baseball clubs, including Lawndale, IL, dating to 1877.
http://mlb.mlb.com/memorylab/spread_...iest_clubs.jsp

At first glance, the tintype itself (clipped corners, the look of the emulsion, the studio setting and backdrop) screams 19th century, not early 20th.

[scooter729]

I'm assuming the team name on the jersey is "Lawndale"? There are several towns named Lawndale in the US, but none in MA. It looks like Maranville stayed pretty close to his MA home until his career began with the Boston Braves, so it doesn't seem likely he would've been playing for a team named Lawndale as a teenager.

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by dbrown

This MLB page lists early baseball clubs, including Lawndale, IL, dating to 1877.
http://mlb.mlb.com/memorylab/spread_...iest_clubs.jsp

At first glance, the tintype itself (clipped corners, the look of the emulsion, the studio setting and backdrop) screams 19th century, not early 20th.

I agree, the tintype appears more late-19th century than early-20th, and in regards to the uniforms and equipment, the quilted pants and full collar jerseys are consistent with 1890s diamond use. The glove the player on the left is wearing also appears to possibly be a webless workmans example (I could be wrong), so I think it is most likely late-19th century in my humble opinion. Great tintype and image either way.

[CMIZ5290]

Not him...

[Baseball Bob]

Sure looks like a match to me, ceteris peribus. Nice find!