Help dating a vintage baseball photo

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Posted By: Keith

Any idea on era of this photo? The glove and uniform look pretty old to me, maybe turn of the century? but I am just an amateur, and I know there are some Photography experts on this board.
Also, do you guys thinks this is a female ball player, or just a really infemninate male?
thanks

KJ

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Posted By: ramram

Based on the uniform/equipment, I would say just after the turn of the century. However, the format of the image and the mount can also be a big help but I can't tell from the image in this post.

Rob M.

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Posted By: David McDonald

Looks infemninate, all right. I would lose the dress.

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

I do not know, but I'd guess early 1940's and that is a woman. Small glove for females. The glove doesn't look turn of the century, just small.

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Posted By: prewarsports

I would place it in that ten year period. Cresent heeled Workmans style glove with a button back dates to around 1895-1900. Uniform looks about 1900-1905 to me.

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Posted By: T206Collector

Should be pretty easy -- they don't eat much, and the conversation would be pretty one-sided. That might get boring, so you might want to upgrade to dating vintage movies. But the earliest ones are silent, so there is still not much room for conversation. Of course, even the "talkies" don't "listen," so you would just be sitting there listening and not doing much talking. But, again, they don't eat much. I recommend bringing a bucket of popcorn for yourself, and perhaps a box of Goobers. This can be washed down with the beverage of your choice, but I like Mountain Dew with popcorn and Goobers. I doubt your vintage movie would want any of these, but it will make you happy and thus your date would be a success!

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Posted By: steve f

She's got the deer-in-the-headlights look alright, but I don't see any boobees (sportsbra, juicin'). Prewar, is that an early catchers mitt?

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Posted By: prewarsports

It is a webbed workmans fielders glove with a crecent heel. By the 1890's catchers were using HUGE mitts which were so padded they essentially could not be closed with one hand because most had moved directly behind the plate to catch. You basically let the ball hit the padding and then used your non-throwing hand to cup it from falling to the ground. This is why you see so many 1890's-1920's catchers with the mangled throwing hands. I have a 1910's glass plate x-ray from a medical school which shows a typical baseball catchers hand deformation. This would occur when a catcher was getting ready to cup the ball with his throwing hand and a foul tip would knock it slightly off course and break fingers. Another reason why people like Ray Schalk and others are in the hall of fame despite low batting averages that typically got lower as the season progressed. Most of the time they were playing with broken fingers taped to non-broken fingers for strength. Worked pretty good for fielding but I bet hitting was tough.

Long story short, it is a fielders glove and I have some 1890's catchers in full gear photos that show the bigger mitts from this era if you want to see them.