Old Judge accuracy?

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Posted By: Jeff S

I am currently reading the SABR publication "How to Do Baseball Research" and came across the following tidbit:

"in 1991...various encyclopedias listed pitcher Harry Gruber ... as throwing with his left hand. However, examination of a photo of Gruber from an N-172 Old Judge cabinet card clearly shows the nineteenth-century hurler to be a right-hander. ...various encyclopedias made the change..."

Besides the fact that an Old Judge cabinet is an N173, are Old Judge photos to be trusted? I mean, photographers probably had to make the players stand in a throwing position for minutes at a time--and the shot was certainly not part of any real-time pitching motion, like a modern-day card would be. I don't trust my Brouthers cards to give me a picture of how Big Dan really clubbed those home runs, and I'm not willing to bet that Whitney had a dog. It seems like really flimsy evidence on which to base such a claim.

What do you think?