Studio Photo of Baseball Players (1880-1889)
But aren't they inside on a carpet?
Charlie Ferguson and Tommy McCarthy, Philadelphia Quakers
The personal collection of materials related to baseball and other sports gathered by the early baseball player and sporting-goods tycoon A. G. Spalding came to the Library in 1921 as a gift from his widow. During his lifetime, Spalding acquired the libraries of early Cincinnati Red Stockings center fielder Harry Wright and the early baseball journalist and inventor of the box score Henry Chadwick, two other notable figures in the history of baseball, and incorporated their materials with his own. The entire collection consists of more than 3,000 books and pamphlets; over 100 periodicals; numerous scrapbooks, scorebooks, and diaries; and other manuscript items that document the development of the sport from the mid-19th century to about 1914.
Photographer: G. E. Gray
New York Public Library: The A. G. Spalding Baseball Collection