Who's the kid?
April 8, 2011 6:11 AM   Subscribe

Archived Baseball photos from 1917-1956 Today, the Boston Public Library will publish on the Internet the first 100 of a trove of nearly 3,000 rarely seen baseball photographs taken by Leslie Jones, who worked for the Boston Herald and the Boston Traveler from 1917 to 1956. Moments preserved by the shutter and squirreled away in his Dorchester basement, where he kept tens of thousands of images. The Boston Globe has a selection published here. The first batch of snapshots was released to coincide with today’s Opening Day at Fenway Park. Library staff plan to upload several dozen more images each week until all 2,881 photos are online. The project is part of a broader initiative by the library to give the public unfettered access to Jones’s entire archive of tens of thousands of images. He photographed car wrecks and ice-crusted fishing trawlers; shot luminaries like Albert Einstein and Amelia Earhart; and the people of Boston.
posted by Gungho (18 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
The first six are pure win.

(as are all of them)
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:15 AM on April 8, 2011


This one of an injured Babe Ruth being carried off the field in front of the Green Monster is amazing. Thanks for posting this, Gungho.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:23 AM on April 8, 2011


is there a way to search the flickr account for a particular name?
posted by efalk at 6:24 AM on April 8, 2011


The first six are pure win.

Which is more than you can say for the first six games the Sox have played this season. The pathetic, carmine-hosed stumblebums fell three in a row to the mighty bats of Cleveland - only last night crawling helplessly in the dust of Cleveland's Progressive Field, begging for mercy under the cold grin of Chief Wahoo, whose gleaming incisors closed without remorse, leaving an infield strewn with the tatters of vermillian anklewear, soaked with the tears beaten Bostoners, and enshadowed beneath the collective shoulders of the Tribe as they rose triumphant over the wreckage of the bumbling Beantowners' World Series hopes. Today, the Cleveland Indians are in first place in American league. Beware Boston. They shall not relinquish it lightly.
posted by Faze at 6:31 AM on April 8, 2011 [1 favorite]


Jesus Christ are these some incredible photos! He must have been practically standing on the third base line for this shot!
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:32 AM on April 8, 2011


Perhaps this will inspire the Red Sox to finally win a baseball game.
posted by Aizkolari at 6:54 AM on April 8, 2011


Great images of Amelia Earhart as well.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:57 AM on April 8, 2011


The photo of Ted Williams with the caption "Red Sox Player" makes him look approachable and almost likable.
posted by three blind mice at 7:17 AM on April 8, 2011


Wow, could that guy ever take a photo...
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:00 AM on April 8, 2011


Thank you.
posted by zzazazz at 8:03 AM on April 8, 2011


The photo of Ted Williams with the caption "Red Sox Player" makes him look approachable and almost likable.
posted by three blind mice at 10:17 AM on April 8 [+] [!]

I don't think that is TW. Lookee here
posted by Gungho at 8:07 AM on April 8, 2011


I love the action in shot #12.

But now I can't decide on my favorite new baseball name: Rabbit Maranville or Urbane Pickering?
posted by maryr at 8:47 AM on April 8, 2011


But now I can't decide on my favorite new baseball name: Rabbit Maranville or Urbane Pickering?

It should be Rabbit Maranville, because he was a total lunatic. He would pass the time mid-game by doing bizarre pantomimes of the umpire or by sitting down on players who'd slid into second base. His standard catch of a fly ball involved him standing motionless and apparently unaware right underneath the ball, hands at his side, then at the last second holding his glove at his waist and making the catch. He was likely to be found running up and down the train the team was taking to the next game, throwing buckets of ice on random passengers and whooping, not just as a player, but when he was the team's manager. There's a vast treasury of stories of Rabbit doing things like painting an umpire's face with iodine, having Jim Thorpe dangle him out of a window, luring dozens of pigeons into his closet to surprise his roommate, or having a teammate chase him through Times Square yelling, "Stop, thief!"

Like I said, a total lunatic.
posted by Copronymus at 9:12 AM on April 8, 2011 [9 favorites]


Beware Boston. They shall not relinquish it lightly.

Faze, today is opening day in the Fenway. I saw the Hood Dairy blimp out through my kitchen window. Yesterday a cold windy morning in Boston broke under the onslaught of a healthy sun that put in a full 12 hours work, and made a sweet smelling warm afternoon. Today is the day to remove the inner lining from my all-season coat. Daffodils break the ground, and the largest pile of snow I've seen all week was less than a foot across and less than an inch high.

The opener starts in two hours, and that is when Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos resume spinning, measuring, and cutting. For the next two hours, there is nothing that cannot come to be.
posted by benito.strauss at 9:13 AM on April 8, 2011 [3 favorites]


Agreed. As far as I can tell from local media, the Sox home opener is the only thing happening in the world right now. I mean, if we were at war(s) or something, surely the news would be covering that, right?
posted by maryr at 12:03 PM on April 8, 2011


is there a way to search the flickr account for a particular name?

Not much point, since many of the pictures do not name the subject(s).
posted by JanetLand at 12:15 PM on April 8, 2011


These are great, thank you for posting them.
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:06 PM on April 8, 2011


Woah, amazing photos. Really glad they are coming to light. Thanks for posting this!
posted by Corduroy at 6:18 PM on April 8, 2011


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