Matty McIntyre 1904 Photo Album

[Runscott]

Some of you might remember the 'Matty McIntyre Photo Album Disaster' of about eight years ago. The seller got hold of an amazing piece of sports history, but decided he could make more $$$ by breaking it up - actually cutting the pictures up, meaning he had to decide which pictures were more important (which side of the page), literally destroying many photos.

While I wanted to slap the guy silly, I succumbed and bought a few of them. Here are two of them. Below that are the backsides - I got really lucky, as the back of the Killian is one of Matty himself, with an 'autograph' of sorts.

If you have any of these, please post.

[milkit1]

wow those are Awesome! got anymore?

[slidekellyslide]

I bought many of them, but only kept one of them that I'll never get rid of.

Wahoo Sam c1905


That was the most incredible album from a baseball estate ever...there was even a Van Oyen team photo that was previously unknown..there were very few photos of Cobb in the album which reinforces the story that Cobb and McIntyre did not like one another.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I bought many of them, but only kept one of them that I'll never get rid of.

That was the most incredible album from a baseball estate ever...there was even a Van Oyen team photo that was previously unknown..there were very few photos of Cobb in the album which reinforces the story that Cobb and McIntyre did not like one another.

If any of us were lucky enough to come across an album like that, it would never cross our minds in a million years to 'part it out'. I remember talking to a board member once about a set of cabinet cards that he was selling as a group - he wouldn't break them up, just in the hope that the winning bidder would keep them as a set. Lots of appreciation for history among the board members.

[cookie]

i do have what i was told was mcintyre signature from the same album.It was a cut from underneath a picture similiar to what you have.i was told that all the notes under the pics were his writing and not his wife.so i do have a "matty" only.Not sure what it,s value might be?I,m not sure how many times he wrote his first name only i nthe album..but was told his full name was never written out.Some imfo. would be appreciated.

[slidekellyslide]

Are we sure that McIntyre is the one who wrote under the photos?...seems kinda weird that he would label himself under the photos as "Matty" and not "Me."

[milkit1]

was the description cut off the Crawford?

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Are we sure that McIntyre is the one who wrote under the photos?...seems kinda weird that he would label himself under the photos as "Matty" and not "Me."

Yes, his signature was authenticated. I have no idea how, as I've never been able to find an image of his signature, but I'm sure they exist.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by milkit1

was the description cut off the Crawford?

I removed the photo from the black paper it was glued to...it's very unfortunate that John Rogers cut this album up when these photos were very easy to remove...no telling how many incredible photos of these early Detroiters and in some cases Matty's minor league teammates were lost forever to a pair of scissors.

[milkit1]

what did those sell for anyways

[slidekellyslide]

Most of the out of uniform snapshots sold for between $10-$30...I did however pay somewhere around $100 for an "Unknown" man in a suit on the field...I knew it was Sam Thompson and probably someone else did too that's why it went for so much...non hall of fame players in uniform seemed to go for anywhere from $50-$100 and hall of famers went from $100+...I can't recall what the Van Oyen team photo sold for, but I think it was over $2,000. There were a few out of uniform snapshots that had multiple players including Cobb that I think sold for $100+...then there were photos of non-baseball stuff that Matty snapped including some zoo photos, boats in Cuba, his family, et cetera that all sold for $10 and less per photo.


The sad part is that this album originated from a Lelands auction and I never even saw it until I went searching for info on the album after it had already been cut up...it sold dirt cheap (compared to what Rogers made on it) I may still not have gotten it as Rogers probably had a much higher bid on it than what it sold for, but snapshots were my main passion at that time and I definitely would have taken a run at it.

These photos are no longer mine so hopefully whoever has them now won't object to my posting them, but you seem genuinely interested in the collection.

Davy Jones


Ed Killian


Germany Schaeffer


Jimmy Archer x 2


Matty's baby and a pup


Ship in Cuba


The Womenfolk


I can't recall the name of this fellow, but Richard Bak an author of a couple of Ty Cobb books once told me who it was...you can see part of the stands at Bennett Park in the background


George Wiltse and Joe McGinnity

[Runscott]

Thanks for sharing - I remember some of those pics. Wouldn't it have been greg if Rogers had made high-quality scans of all the pages in the album BEFORE chopping it up, and created a website for the album.

[mabjae]

I won't have access to a scanner for a few weeks, but I have 5-6 of these. Offthe top of my head, I remember a group pic on the USS Maine, a street photo of ballplayers, an unidentified player in uniform and one of the groundskeeper mowing the field at Bennett Field.
Dan, I think you and I went head-to-head on that one, if I remember correctly.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by mabjae

I won't have access to a scanner for a few weeks, but I have 5-6 of these. Offthe top of my head, I remember a group pic on the USS Maine, a street photo of ballplayers, an unidentified player in uniform and one of the groundskeeper mowing the field at Bennett Field.
Dan, I think you and I went head-to-head on that one, if I remember correctly.

I did bid on the groundskeeper photo, but I'm pretty sure Rhys ended up winning that one. That was a very cool photo.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I did bid on the groundskeeper photo, but I'm pretty sure Rhys ended up winning that one. That was a very cool photo.

I found images of a few more of these I won from that lot. I'll create a page on my website and get them all posted.