Most of the photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs, 20 to 200 megabytes in size) from the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) Many were digitized by LOC contractors using a Sinar studio back. They are adjusted by your webmaster for contrast and color in Photoshop before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here.

Chicago Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers. December 16, 1910. Gelatin silver print by Paul Thompson. View full size.
The October 2009 issue of Smithsonian magazine has an article by Harry Katz about these marvelous early baseball photos. Very little is known of Paul Thompson. His photos were used for the "gold border" baseball cards issued in 1911 by American Tobacco. Even better, more than two dozen of the original closeup photos are preserved in the Library of Congress. Five have made their way to Shorpy so far!

These are the saddest of possible words:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."
Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
Tinker and Evers and Chance.
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
Making a Giant hit into a double --
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."
well, where's Tinker?
Today's Top 5