(Originally published in the Agate Type newsletter.)

This photograph of the 1920 Chicago Americans has appeared in several books, but several of the players have been misidentified over the years. With one exception, I think I can identify all of them with certainty—and I have a pretty good idea about the one exception.

My proposed IDs are as follows.

Back row, left to right: Cristóbal Torriente, Tom Johnson, Judy Gans, Leroy Grant, Rube Foster, Bingo DeMoss, Jim Brown, Tom Williams, Jack Marshall

Front row, left to right: Frank Wickware, Bobby Williams, George Dixon, Dave Malarcher, Dave Brown, unknown (possibly Jelly Gardner), Johnny Reese

Below are photo comparisons to establish the players’ identities, with the images from this photo on the far left, juxtaposed with two confirmed photos of the player from other sources on the right.

1. Cristóbal Torriente

This one is not controversial at all, as the Cuban Hall of Fame slugger is very recognizable. The two photos on the right come from Cuban baseball cards.

2. Tom Johnson

3. Judy Gans

4. Leroy Grant

This one seems weirdly difficult for some people, but to me Leroy Grant is just as recognizable as Torriente or Foster. Just to demonstrate here’s another triptych of Grant images over the years:

5. Rube Foster

One of the most famous Negro leaguers ever, Rube Foster would never be mistaken for anyone else.

6. Bingo DeMoss

7. Jim Brown

Sometimes (to my bewilderment) wrongly identified as Leroy Grant, this player is the American Giants’ longtime catcher, Jim Brown.

8. Tom Williams

There is not a ton of images of Tom Williams, but the one on the right (identified as Williams in a 1918 American Giants team photo) shows that this is clearly him.

9. Jack (Boss) Marshall

This is the pitcher, not the later infielder. Marshall is another player who hasn’t had many images preserved—at the moment these are the only three I can think of.

10. Frank Wickware

This photo has often been identified as Jim Brown, but I believe that Brown is in the back row, and this is actually the Red Ant, Frank Wickware.

11. Bobby Williams

Sometimes misidentified as Otis Starks, this player is obviously the shortstop Bobby Williams. (Starks did not play for the 1920 Chicago American Giants.)

12. George Dixon

13. Dave Malarcher

14. Dave Brown

15. Unknown (Jelly Gardner??)

I’m not sure that this ID is immediately convincing, and indeed it is pretty speculative on my part. It didn’t really occur to me until I ran across the second image here (from the July 29, 1924, Chicago Defender). Importantly the 1920 player on the left has his face angled subtly upward: he’s looking up at the camera. Jelly Gardner in the 1924 photo is looking down (again, very subtly), his mouth is open, and his eyebrows are obscured by shadows. In images of this quality these differences in angle and lighting can really matter.

Most other photos of Gardner are not incredibly useful for our purposes. He suffered a species of bad luck that afflicts a good number of Negro leaguers: he was a well-known player, and had a few photos published over the years, but most of them have survived (through many layers of printing, microfilming, and digitization) in very poor shape. Here’s a sampling of four more to illustrate:

After identifying everyone else, Jelly Gardner was the only regular or semi-regular player on the 1920 American Giants left. Of the more marginal players, Frank Warfield, Bill Riggins, and Rudolph Ash could be ruled out based on existing photos. I only have one photo of Eddie Boyd, and it’s not good enough to make any kind of ID. In the end Gardner is the most logical candidate. But I don’t think I can say definitively that he’s the guy.

16. Johnny Reese

The speedy utility outfielder and future St. Louis Stars manager had a pretty distinctive look, and nobody disagrees that this is him.

If Jelly Gardner is (as I speculate) in the photo, then the ten top position players (in terms of plate appearances) on the American Giants are pictured, as well as everybody who pitched an inning for them in a league game that season, along with the manager.

Postcript

This photo was taken by J. E. Miller in Kansas City’s Association Park. Matt Garvey identified this ballpark in other photographs, which allowed me to realize where this was taken. The American Giants visited Kansas City for one series in 1920, from July 31 through August 5. Fifteen players appeared for the American Giants in these games, and the list of these players plus manager Rube Foster corresponds precisely with the players I’ve identified in the photograph.