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	<title>Sweden &#8211; Society for American Baseball Research</title>
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		<title>Eric Erickson</title>
		<link>https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/eric-erickson/</link>
		
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		<pubDate>Tue, 23 May 2017 01:14:51 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[Between 1870 and 1920, over a million Swedes emigrated to the United States, primarily seeking greater economic opportunities.1 This influx produced notable second- and third-generation Swedish-American baseball stars like Charles “Swede” Risberg and Freddie Lindstrom. But only four Swedish-born players made the big leagues. Collectively they appeared in just 149 major-league games.2 Pitching for the [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" style="float: right; margin: 3px;" src="https://sabr.org/sites/default/files/EricksonEric.jpg" alt="" width="240">Between 1870 and 1920, over a million Swedes emigrated to the United States, primarily seeking greater economic opportunities.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote1anc" href="#sdendnote1sym">1</a> This influx produced notable second- and third-generation Swedish-American baseball stars like <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/fde3d63f">Charles “Swede” Risberg</a> and <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/b4f653b8">Freddie Lindstrom</a>. But only four Swedish-born players made the big leagues. Collectively they appeared in just 149 major-league games.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote2anc" href="#sdendnote2sym">2</a> Pitching for the Giants, Tigers, and Senators in an eight-year career (1914-22), Eric Erickson accounts for 145 of these.</p>
<p>Swan Erickson and Selma Larson arrived in the early 1880s and were married several years later. Swan became an American citizen, and three of the couple’s four children were born in the United States.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote3anc" href="#sdendnote3sym">3</a> But one, Eric George Adolph Erickson, arrived in Vargarda, Sweden, on March 13, 1892, as his parents were visiting their native land.</p>
<p>Eric spent his childhood in Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania. In 1908 the family moved 60 miles north to Jamestown, New York, a regional magnet for Swedish-Americans.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote4anc" href="#sdendnote4sym">4</a> Per the 1910 census both Swan and Eric worked at a Jamestown factory, the father as a night watchman, his son as a machinist. By 1912 Eric was pitching for the Leroe semipro team in the neighboring town of Celoron.</p>
<p>One day, Don Curtis, a visiting Dallas Giants scout, spotted the strapping right-hander throwing heat. “Do you think you can throw that hard and get away with it at Dallas in the Texas League?” Curtis asked Erickson. “I think so,” came the reply. “At least, I’d like to try.” It was, he later recalled, an easy decision: “Leroe was paying me $3 a game, so the $60 per month Dallas was paying me looked pretty good.”<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote5anc" href="#sdendnote5sym">5</a> In 1914 Erickson reported to Dallas for spring training.</p>
<p>The New York Giants trained in Marlin, Texas, and Erickson faced one of their squads that March. There he caught <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/fef5035f">John McGraw</a>‘s eye and, in early July, the Giants purchased him for $2,000.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote6anc" href="#sdendnote6sym">6</a> Erickson went 11-19 for a Dallas squad which finished 67-83. After the Texas League season ended in mid-September, he reported to New York.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote7anc" href="#sdendnote7sym">7</a> Over the next few weeks the Braves blew past the Giants in the pennant race. In the second game of an October 6 doubleheader against the Phillies, the last game of the season, McGraw gave the newcomer a start. Shaky, Erickson yielded eight hits and three walks in five innings of work. But, with only a couple regulars in the New York lineup, the fielding behind him “was not even up to Texas League standards.”<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote8anc" href="#sdendnote8sym">8</a> He gave up seven runs, all unearned, and took the loss, 8-0.</p>
<p>Erickson trained with the Giants in 1915 but, while pitching against his former Dallas teammates in an exhibition game, a line drive fractured the index finger of his pitching hand. McGraw sent him to the AAA International League’s Rochester Hustlers “with strings attached.”<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote9anc" href="#sdendnote9sym">9</a> After healing, he compiled a 14-8 record and finished second among league pitchers in strikeouts, with 173 over 215 2/3 innings.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote10anc" href="#sdendnote10sym">10</a> Per terms of the agreement between the clubs, McGraw needed to exercise his option by August 15.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote11anc" href="#sdendnote11sym">11</a> The Giants skipper did not. Days later, the Hustlers skipper — <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/c75e5e33">John Ganzel</a> — signed a deal to manage the Federal League’s Brooklyn Tip-Tops. Ganzel soon signed Erickson for Brooklyn, although he left the pitcher in Rochester to complete the 1915 season.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote12anc" href="#sdendnote12sym">12</a></p>
<p>When the Federal League dissolved that offseason, Erickson was left without a team. Ganzel recommended him to Tigers president <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/dba7471c">Frank Navin</a>.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote13anc" href="#sdendnote13sym">13</a> During the just-completed season Detroit had, for the first time in six years, challenged for the pennant. But they were a primarily slugging team, and Navin was anxious to upgrade his pitching staff. Detroit paid a reported $5,000 to Brooklyn for Erickson’s release.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote14anc" href="#sdendnote14sym">14</a></p>
<p>“Erickson has everything,” Ganzel raved. “Nobody possesses more speed and he has a beautiful curve ball.”<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote15anc" href="#sdendnote15sym">15</a> Catcher <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/c3642cfe">Brad Kocher</a>, who played International League ball against the pitcher in 1915, claimed he had “as much smoke as anyone living and I do not bar <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/0e5ca45c">Walter Johnson</a>.”<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote16anc" href="#sdendnote16sym">16</a> Standing 6-foot-2, weighing 190 pounds, and employing an overhanded delivery, he was a prototypical power pitcher.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote17anc" href="#sdendnote17sym">17</a></p>
<p>In 1916 Tigers manager <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/c9d82d83">Hughie Jennings</a> appointed veteran catcher <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/d0d341b0">Billy Sullivan</a> to work with the squad’s young pitchers. Erickson was sometimes wild in spring training; in a March 25 game versus Waco, for example, he walked the first five batters.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote18anc" href="#sdendnote18sym">18</a> But he was also battling arm problems.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote19anc" href="#sdendnote19sym">19</a> Erickson only saw 16 innings of work early in the 1916 season, before being released to San Francisco in early July “with a thick rope attached.”<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote20anc" href="#sdendnote20sym">20</a> After a slow start in the Pacific Coast League, Erickson found a groove, and finished with a 12-9 record and a 2.35 ERA (fifth-best among PCL regulars) and 158 strikeouts (third-best).<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote21anc" href="#sdendnote21sym">21</a> San Francisco manager <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/41cb67cd">Harry Wolverton</a> reportedly engineered the outright purchase of Erickson from Detroit.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote22anc" href="#sdendnote22sym">22</a></p>
<p>Healthy, his wildness tamed, and with a “combination shine ball and spitter” added to his repertoire, Erickson won the PCL pitching triple crown in 1917.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote23anc" href="#sdendnote23sym">23</a> In addition to a 31-15 record, he sported a sparkling 1.93 ERA, and struck out 307 batters in 443 2/3 innings.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote24anc" href="#sdendnote24sym">24</a> Detroit wasted no time in negotiating a deal to reclaim Erickson from San Francisco.</p>
<p>But his return to the Tigers wasn’t without its problems. “It is an open secret that he and Jennings got along like two strange catamounts,” the <em>Chicago Tribune</em> reported in February 1918. “Erickson has been quoted as declaring that he never again would pitch for Detroit while Jennings managed the club.”<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote25anc" href="#sdendnote25sym">25</a> Writing in <em>The Sporting News</em> that April, Tigers correspondent H. G. Salsinger described Erickson as “a valuable twirler, but one of peculiar temperament.” The pitcher, the sportswriter suggested, “wants to be pampered constantly.” But Jennings believed in “pampering none, and treating all alike.” This approach, Salsinger believed, was mistaken, “for no one who knows men will say that all men can be treated in the same way and the best gotten out of them.”<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote26anc" href="#sdendnote26sym">26</a> More recently, <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/7551754a">Ty Cobb</a> biographer Charles Leerhsen suggests Jennings “combined an extreme aversion to confrontation with a tendency to bully and be sarcastic toward the younger or more insecure men on the team.”<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote27anc" href="#sdendnote27sym">27</a></p>
<p>Erickson suffered “an extremely unfortunate start” to his 1918 season.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote28anc" href="#sdendnote28sym">28</a> At Cleveland, on April 18, in relief of <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/98ab8a90">Bernie Boland</a>, the seventh inning began poorly for Erickson when shortstop <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/20beccce">Donie Bush</a> muffed a double-play ball. He then walked two batters, and yielded a bases-clearing triple to <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/05f5df36">Braggo Roth</a>.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote29anc" href="#sdendnote29sym">29</a> Erickson took the 6-2 loss. But he quickly recovered to emerge as one of the staff’s best options. At Washington in front of President Wilson on May 24, he dueled with <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/9de33c0b">Harry Harper</a> for 16 innings until a 2-2 game was called for darkness. Erickson had surrendered but eight hits, walked none, and struck out 12. Over the last 13 innings he faced only 40 batters.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote30anc" href="#sdendnote30sym">30</a></p>
<p>Little did he realize that his season was over: several games later Erickson was shelved with a sore arm, and then he was drafted into the army. He spent his WWI service at Fort Dix, New Jersey, with the 153rd Depot Brigade, and on January 24, 1919, he was honorably discharged as a sergeant. Erickson finished the 1918 campaign with a 4-5 record and a 2.48 ERA over 94 1/3 innings. Detroit slid to a 55-71 seventh-place finish.</p>
<p>As the 1919 season began, a knee problem — its legitimacy questioned by the Detroit press — kept Erickson mostly out of action.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote31anc" href="#sdendnote31sym">31</a> In mid-May he was threatened with suspension by Navin and Jennings unless he returned to game shape.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote32anc" href="#sdendnote32sym">32</a> On June 25, 1919, after appearing in only three games with Detroit, he was dealt to Washington for right-handed pitcher <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/95ee682f">Doc Ayers</a>, who had recently stumbled with the Senators.</p>
<p>“I have long been sweet on Erickson,” Senators manager <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/96624988">Clark Griffith</a> stated, and he immediately put the newcomer into the starting rotation.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote33anc" href="#sdendnote33sym">33</a> Erickson finished his 1919 season with the Senators with a 6-11 record and a 3.95 ERA. In the nation’s capital, he presented no problem to the team’s management, as was true at every other stop in his career, save Detroit. It’s probably fair to conclude Erickson’s relationship with Jennings was indeed poisonous.</p>
<p>Before the 1920 season, MLB outlawed the shine-slash-spitter Erickson had relied upon, and he was not among the 17 pitchers whose slippery repertoire was grandfathered. For whatever reason—changes in the pitching rules, or a loss of velocity—his ability to overpower hitters diminished. Before 1920 he had struck out five hitters every nine innings, an impressive Deadball Era accomplishment.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote34anc" href="#sdendnote34sym">34</a> In 1920 he struck out 3.3 batters every nine innings, and achieved a 12-16 record and a 3.84 ERA. Washington finished in sixth place with a 68-84 record. That October, Erickson married Alma (nee Bergquist) Anderberg, a young widow, who also had been born in Sweden and resided in Jamestown. Their only child, son Burwin, arrived the next year.</p>
<p>During 1921’s spring training, Erickson began to use “a sort of half side-arm and half under-hand delivery.”<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote35anc" href="#sdendnote35sym">35</a> The Senators climbed into fourth place with an 80-73 mark. Erickson, as the fourth starter, finished with an 8-10 mark and a 3.62 ERA. The retrospectively-calculated ERA+ of 114 he achieved that season was his career-best.</p>
<p>In November 1921, Griffith sought to deal Erickson to Portland for some of their young pitching talent. But the Yankees refused to let him pass through waivers.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote36anc" href="#sdendnote36sym">36</a> Next, he was rumored to be a piece in a three-way trade, with the Athletics and the Red Sox, which would bring <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/829dbefb">Roger Peckinpaugh</a> to Washington.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote37anc" href="#sdendnote37sym">37</a> Though the deal went down, Erickson was not included. Consequently, the veteran stayed with Washington in 1922, stumbling to a 4-12 record and a 4.96 ERA. The Senators also fell backwards, landing in sixth place with a 69-85 record. That December, Washington dealt him to the American Association’s Minneapolis Millers.</p>
<p>In Minnesota, Erickson went 7-25 in 1923. He appeared in a handful of games for the Millers the next season, before league rivals Toronto obtained him in December 1924. After a brief turn with the Maple Leafs in 1925, he returned home to Jamestown.</p>
<p>During his major-league days, the press commonly referred to Erickson as “Ole” or Olaf” or “the big Swede.” In Jamestown, ever since delivering key hits at the beginning of his semipro days, he was known exclusively as “Swat.” Almost two decades after his earliest triumphs, possibly his finest baseball moment occurred on a local semipro diamond. On August 7, 1930, <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/8bb2437d">Bill McKechnie</a>’s Boston Braves came to Jamestown for an exhibition game. The 38-year-old Erickson one-hit the major leaguers, allowing only a “dinky single between first and second” to pinch-hitter <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/d9d00014">Lance Richbourg</a> in the ninth inning. “Swat” accounted for all of Jamestown’s runs in their 3-0 victory, by clearing the bases with a triple in the second inning.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote38anc" href="#sdendnote38sym">38</a></p>
<p>Erickson worked in the shipping department of Art Metal, eventually retiring in 1958.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote39anc" href="#sdendnote39sym">39</a> He also tirelessly farmed on his 15-acre property, raising chickens and pigs, planting apple trees, and become “widely known throughout the area for his berries and garden produce.”<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote40anc" href="#sdendnote40sym">40</a> On May 19, 1965, Eric “Swat” Erickson died of heart disease. Alma, Burwin, and grandchildren Linda and Dennis survived him. Remembered in Jamestown as “a gentleman who was a credit to baseball and our community,” he was buried in Sunset Hill Cemetery in nearby Lakewood, New York.<a class="sdendnoteanc" name="sdendnote41anc" href="#sdendnote41sym">41</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Acknowledgments</strong></p>
<p>This biography was reviewed by Tom Schott and fact-checked by Chris Rainey.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Sources</strong></p>
<p>The author is grateful to Linda Erickson for generously sharing her knowledge of her grandfather’s life.</p>
<p>In addition to the sources noted in this biography, the author also accessed Erickson’s file from the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the <em>Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball</em><em>, </em>and the following websites:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ancestry.com">ancestry.com</a></p>
<p><a href="http://chautauquasportshalloffame.org/ericerickson">chautauquasportshalloffame.org/ericerickson</a></p>
<p><a>fultonhistory.com</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.genealogybank.com/">genealogybank.com</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.newspapers.com">newspapers.com</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Notes</strong></p>
<div id="sdendnote1">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote1sym" href="#sdendnote1anc">1</a> For statistics, see U.S. Department of Homeland Security, <em>Yearbook 	of Immigration Statistics, 2015</em>, <a href="http://tinyurl.com/gropsp6">http://tinyurl.com/gropsp6</a>, 	accessed March 19, 2017. For background, see “Swedish Immigration 	to North America,” <em>Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center 	(Augustana College)</em>, <a href="http://tinyurl.com/mrrdn5a">http://tinyurl.com/mrrdn5a</a>, accessed March 19, 2017.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote2">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote2sym" href="#sdendnote2anc">2</a> In addition to Erickson, <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/dd2767df">Charlie 	Hallstrom</a> pitched one game for the 1885 Providence Grays, 	<a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/524606d6">Charlie Bold</a> appeared in two games with the 1914 St. Louis Browns, and <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/16d0e570">Axel 	Lindstrom</a> pitched one game for the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote3">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote3sym" href="#sdendnote3anc">3</a> E. A. Batchelor, “Erickson Related to Civil War Hero,” <em>Detroit 	Free Press</em>, March 4, 1916.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote4">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote4sym" href="#sdendnote4anc">4</a> “Eric ‘Swat’ Erickson, Noted Ballplayer, Dies,” <em>Jamestown 	Post-Journal</em>, May 20, 1965.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote5">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote5sym" href="#sdendnote5anc">5</a> Frank Hyde, “Frankly Speaking,” ibid. Hyde (likely relaying the 	memories of Erickson) identifies “Jack Curtis, an oldtime Texas 	League infielder” as the scout. But the only ex-Texas Leaguer with 	this surname beating the bushes for Dallas circa 1912 or 1913, was 	the prominent scout W. D. “Don” Curtis. By 1915, Curtis would be 	scouting for John McGraw and the Giants. A generation later he 	signed <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/40bc224d">Dizzy Dean</a> to a Cardinals contract.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote6">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote6sym" href="#sdendnote6anc">6</a> “‘Swat’ Erickson,” <em>Jamestown Evening Journal</em>, July 6, 	1914.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote7">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote7sym" href="#sdendnote7anc">7</a> Heywood Broun, “Matty Triumphs, but Giants Fall to Gain,” <em>New 	York Tribune</em>, September 12, 1914.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote8">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote8sym" href="#sdendnote8anc">8</a> Ibid., “Giants End Season with an Even Break,” October 7.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote9">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote9sym" href="#sdendnote9anc">9</a> “International League,” <em>Sporting Life</em>, April 24, 1915, 	16.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote10">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote10sym" href="#sdendnote10anc">10</a> Francis C. Richter, ed., <em>The Reach Official American League Base 	Ball Guide for 1916 </em>(Philadelphia: A. J. Reach, 1916), 191.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote11">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote11sym" href="#sdendnote11anc">11</a> “Bad Twirling Loses One Game; Buffalo Errors Help Hustlers to 	Annex Other,” [Rochester, NY]<em> Democrat and Chronicle</em>, 	August 14, 1915.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote12">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote12sym" href="#sdendnote12anc">12</a> “Hustlers Are Triumphant, In Their Final Contest of 1915 Pennant 	Campaign,” ibid., September 19.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote13">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote13sym" href="#sdendnote13anc">13</a> H. G. Salsinger, “Figures Big Item in Erickson Deal,” <em>The 	Sporting News</em>, February 10, 1916, 6.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote14">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote14sym" href="#sdendnote14anc">14</a> “Special Powers May Be Granted to Scout Rickey,” <em>St. Louis 	Post-Dispatch</em>, February 3, 1916.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote15">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote15sym" href="#sdendnote15anc">15</a> H. G. Salsinger, “Sullivan to Boss First Tiger Squad,” <em>The 	Sporting News</em>, February 17, 1916, 5.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote16">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote16sym" href="#sdendnote16anc">16</a> E. A. Batchelor, “Erickson Appears to be Best of the Detroit 	Recruits,” <em>Detroit Free Press</em>, March 12, 1916.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote17">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote17sym" href="#sdendnote17anc">17</a> Contemporary accounts provide sometimes conflicting glimpses of 	Erickson’s pitching style. The pitcher himself spoke of pitching 	overhand throughout his major-league days. See “‘Swat’ 	Erickson Picks the Yankees,” <em>Jamestown Evening Journal</em>, 	October 10, 1923. But sometimes Erickson’s statements in his 	hometown newspapers are cloudy. Certainly, in 1921, Washington 	newspapers frequently referenced a sidearm delivery, suggesting he 	at least temporarily changed his overhand motion later.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote18">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote18sym" href="#sdendnote18anc">18</a> “Erickson’s Aim Poor; Waco Wins,” <em>Detroit Free Press</em>, 	March 26, 1916.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote19">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote19sym" href="#sdendnote19anc">19</a> H. G. Salsinger, “Tigers Not Ready as Season Starts,” <em>The 	Sporting News</em>, April 13, 1916, 6.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote20">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote20sym" href="#sdendnote20anc">20</a> Ibid., “Detroit Fans Lose Faith in Their Team,” July 13, 3.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote21">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote21sym" href="#sdendnote21anc">21</a> <em>Reach Guide for 1916</em>, 133.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote22">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote22sym" href="#sdendnote22anc">22</a> A. C. Joy, “Must Have Tired of So Much Baseball,” <em>The 	Sporting News</em>, November 9, 1916, 6.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote23">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote23sym" href="#sdendnote23anc">23</a> “Spit Ball is Big Aid,” <em>The </em>[Portland] <em>Oregonian</em>, 	September 9, 1917.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote24">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote24sym" href="#sdendnote24anc">24</a> <em> Reach Guide for 1916</em>, 188.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote25">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote25sym" href="#sdendnote25anc">25</a> “Tigers Go South for Only Brief Stay in Training Season,” 	<em>Chicago Tribune</em>, February 10, 1918.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote26">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote26sym" href="#sdendnote26anc">26</a> H. G. Salsinger, “So Far So Good is Report on Detroit,” <em>The 	Sporting News</em>, April 11, 1918, 3.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote27">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote27sym" href="#sdendnote27anc">27</a> Charles Leerhsen, <em>Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty</em> (New York: Simon 	&amp; Schuster, 2015), 312.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote28">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote28sym" href="#sdendnote28anc">28</a> H. G. Salsinger, “In Other Words It’s No Team at All,” <em>The 	Sporting News</em>, May 16, 1918, 2.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote29">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote29sym" href="#sdendnote29anc">29</a> For a game account, see Harry Bullion, “Tigers Come Out on Small 	End of Score When Hughie Sends Erickson to Mound,” <em>Detroit Free 	Press</em>, April 19, 1918.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote30">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote30sym" href="#sdendnote30anc">30</a> For a game account, see Harry Bullion, “Nationals and Tigers Go 	Sixteen Innings Without Reaching Any Decision,”<em> </em>ibid., May 	25.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote31">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote31sym" href="#sdendnote31anc">31</a> Harry Bullion, “Pitching Problem Should Not Be Hard for Hughie to 	Untangle This Season,”<em> </em>ibid., January 26, 1919.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote32">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote32sym" href="#sdendnote32anc">32</a> Ibid., “New Faces, Stern Methods of Handling Recalcitrant Tigers 	is Navin’s Course,” May 17.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote33">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote33sym" href="#sdendnote33anc">33</a> “Erickson Reports Friday to Griff,” <em>Washington Times</em>, 	June 26, 1919.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote34">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote34sym" href="#sdendnote34anc">34</a> Erickson pitched just 262 innings before 1920, but only 11 other 	pitchers throwing at least that many innings from 1900-1919 topped 	his 5.08 strikeouts per nine innings.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote35">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote35sym" href="#sdendnote35anc">35</a> Louis A. Dougher, “Looking ‘Em Over,” <em>Washington Times</em>, 	March 27, 1921.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote36">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote36sym" href="#sdendnote36anc">36</a> Ibid., “Griff Seeks Pitchers, Has His Eye Upon Two,” November 	20, 1921.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote37">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote37sym" href="#sdendnote37anc">37</a> Ray Helgesen, “Three-Cornered Deal Hinges on Connie Mack,” 	<em>Washington Herald</em>, January 5, 1922; ibid., January 10, 1922.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote38">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote38sym" href="#sdendnote38anc">38</a> “Swat Erickson Limits Boston Club to One Dinky Hit in Nine Innings 	and Spiders Apply Whitewash, 3-0,” <em>Jamestown Evening Journal</em>, 	August 8, 1930.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote39">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote39sym" href="#sdendnote39anc">39</a> Background on Erickson’s post-baseball life: Linda Erickson, phone 	interview with the author, March 21, 2017.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote40">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote40sym" href="#sdendnote40anc">40</a> See endnote 4.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdendnote41">
<p><a class="sdendnotesym" name="sdendnote41sym" href="#sdendnote41anc">41</a> Hyde, “Frankly Speaking.”</p>
</div>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
			</item>
		<item>
		<title>Carl J. Horner</title>
		<link>https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/carl-j-horner/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bill Nowlin]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Jul 2024 12:16:20 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[BioProject - Person]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://sabr.org/?post_type=person&#038;p=199123</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[“The real artist in photography … makes it his principal point to make his sitter feel at home, [to] bring out a good expression and a natural pose.”1 — Carl J. Horner, 1901 Carl J. Horner enjoyed a 40-year career in photography. At a portrait studio in Boston, he expertly captured images of people from [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>“The real artist in photography … makes it his principal point to make his sitter feel at home, [to] bring out a good expression and a natural pose.”</em><a href="#_edn1" name="_ednref1">1</a> — Carl J. Horner, 1901</p>
<p><a href="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Horner-Carl-with-players.png"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="alignnone  wp-image-202206" src="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Horner-Carl-with-players.png" alt="Photographer Carl Horner with some of his player portraits" width="500" height="407" srcset="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Horner-Carl-with-players.png 725w, https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Horner-Carl-with-players-300x245.png 300w, https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Horner-Carl-with-players-705x575.png 705w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /></a></p>
<p>Carl J. Horner enjoyed a 40-year career in photography. At a portrait studio in Boston, he expertly captured images of people from all walks of life. Among them were ballplayers. In 1903 he was recognized by <em>Sporting Life</em> as the “official photographer” of the major leagues.<a href="#_edn2" name="_ednref2">2</a> His <a href="https://hornerportraits.org/">portraits of players in the Deadball Era</a> are iconic. His photographic record of the game is priceless.</p>
<p>Carl Johan Horner was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 28, 1864. His parents were Carl Wilhelm Ludvig Horner (1830-1882), a successful restaurateur in Stockholm, and Josephina Charlotta Mathilda (née Broman) Horner (1829-1911). He had four older and two younger siblings: brothers Carl Wilhelm Horner (1856-1875), Axel Ludwig Fredrik Horner (1857-1951), and Fritiof August Horner (1860-1928); sisters Ingeborg Charlotta Mathilda Horner (1862-1865) and Sigrid Anna Sofia Horner (1866-1927); and brother Conrad Knut Horner (1870-1882).</p>
<p>In the fall of 1883, at age 19, Carl Johan Horner came to America. His father had died the year before from a cerebral hemorrhage, and three of his six siblings were deceased. His mother and three siblings (Axel, Fritiof, and Sigrid) remained in Stockholm.</p>
<p>From 1885 to 1888, Horner worked as an assistant photographer in the Boston studio of Ernest A. F. Ritz, a fellow Swede. The <em>Boston Globe</em> reported in April 1886 that Ritz’s employees had formed a baseball team and Horner was the second baseman.<a href="#_edn3" name="_ednref3">3</a> This suggests that for Horner, baseball portraiture would not be solely a business interest; he was a fan of the American game.</p>
<p>In 1888 Horner went back to Stockholm and returned to Boston with his brother Axel. The pair went to work that fall at a portrait studio opened by George Waldon Smith, who had been Ritz’s business manager.<a href="#_edn4" name="_ednref4">4</a> But they weren’t there for long. In the spring of 1889, Horner purchased the studio of Nicholas R. Worden at 48 Winter Street in Boston.<a href="#_edn5" name="_ednref5">5</a> Horner was assisted by his brother for a decade, until Axel relocated to Brooklyn about 1900 to operate a studio there.<a href="#_edn6" name="_ednref6">6</a></p>
<p>On September 20, 1892, the 28-year-old Horner married 20-year-old Thorella M. C. Rosengren, a daughter of Swedish immigrants. Carl and Thorella had only one child, daughter Estelle Charlotte L. Horner, born in July 1893. The following year, the family moved to 10 Shenandoah Street in the Ashmont section of the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. It would be the family home until Estelle’s death in 1978.</p>
<p>By the 1890s, photography had been part of American life for 50 years. Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes opened a portrait studio in Boston in 1843 and used the daguerreotype process invented by Louis J. M. Daguerre in France in 1839.<a href="#_edn7" name="_ednref7">7</a></p>
<p>From 1895 to 1905, Horner’s studio was located at 11 Winter Street, above the Gilchrist department store. Take the elevator to the studio, said one of his ads, for “artistic and first-class photographs at moderate prices.”<a href="#_edn8" name="_ednref8">8</a> It is unknown what equipment he used. His camera may have resembled this Scovill model with double bellows, which was described in 1896 as “a perfect form of studio camera for portrait work.”<a href="#_edn9" name="_ednref9">9</a> From negatives he made gelatin silver prints<a href="#_edn10" name="_ednref10">10</a> following the standard practice of the day.</p>
<p><a href="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Horner-Carl-studio-camera.png"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone  wp-image-202204" src="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Horner-Carl-studio-camera.png" alt="Scovill model camera with double bellows" width="301" height="174" srcset="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Horner-Carl-studio-camera.png 431w, https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Horner-Carl-studio-camera-300x173.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 301px) 100vw, 301px" /></a></p>
<p>Horner was one of 110 photographers listed in the 1895 Boston city directory, but he stood out among his competitors. He was in demand for taking portraits of students of local high schools and colleges.<a href="#_edn11" name="_ednref11">11</a> In 1896 he entered a formal competition and won an award from the National Association of Photographers.<a href="#_edn12" name="_ednref12">12</a> And in 1899 he was one of only two Boston photographers selected for a list of 42 “prominent portrait photographers of the United States.”<a href="#_edn13" name="_ednref13">13</a></p>
<p>Newspapers needed portraits to accompany articles, and beginning in 1901, the <em>Boston Post</em> was one of Horner’s repeat customers. The <em>Post</em> published his photos of cyclists, swimmers, gymnasts, bowlers, football and basketball players, and, starting in 1902, baseball players.</p>
<p>After the Philadelphia Athletics won the 1902 American League pennant, the <em>Post</em> published an article that included Horner’s portraits of Athletics manager <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/connie-mack/">Connie Mack</a>, pitcher <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/rube-waddell/">Rube Waddell</a>, and third baseman <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/lave-cross/">Lave Cross</a>.<a href="#_edn14" name="_ednref14">14</a> Horner took portraits of nearly every AL player and manager in 1902,<a href="#_edn15" name="_ednref15">15</a> and nearly every NL player and manager in 1903.<a href="#_edn16" name="_ednref16">16</a> In this prodigious undertaking, he photographed more than 250 individuals. As visiting teams came to Boston to play the local major-league teams, he was ready to photograph them. Players were in uniform but wore no cap and were photographed from the waist up. Managers were typically in plain clothes.</p>
<p><em>Sporting Life</em> became one of Horner’s major customers. The Philadelphia-based weekly disseminated baseball news to a national audience. In 1903 it reported that Horner was “the only photographer in the country who can supply upon demand the photograph of any manager or player in either major league.”<a href="#_edn17" name="_ednref17">17</a> His portraits appeared also in prominent baseball annuals, <em>Spalding’s Official Base Ball Guide</em> and <em>Reach’s Official American League Base Ball Guide</em>.</p>
<p>Horner offered directly to fans his portraits on 5-by-7-inch cabinet cards. The price was 35 cents each<a href="#_edn18" name="_ednref18">18</a> (about $12 in 2023 dollars). They were on display in his studio and were “greatly admired by baseball enthusiasts.”<a href="#_edn19" name="_ednref19">19</a></p>
<p>This cabinet card was produced by Horner from his 1903 portrait of <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/roger-bresnahan/">Roger Bresnahan</a>. Note Horner’s signature and studio address at lower right. In the spring of 1905, he moved his studio from 11 Winter Street to 387 Washington Street.<a href="#_edn20" name="_ednref20">20</a> The Winter Street address on this card indicates that it was made between 1903 and 1905. At lower left, Horner advertised that he was a European photographer, suggesting the artistry and sophistication of a European portrait painter.</p>
<p><a href="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Bresnahan-Roger-cabinet-card-Horner-Carl.png"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone  wp-image-202202" src="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Bresnahan-Roger-cabinet-card-Horner-Carl.png" alt="Cabinet card of Roger Bresnahan, based on a portrait by Carl J. Horner" width="450" height="429" srcset="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Bresnahan-Roger-cabinet-card-Horner-Carl.png 600w, https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Bresnahan-Roger-cabinet-card-Horner-Carl-300x286.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px" /></a></p>
<p>The <em>Boston Journal</em> described Horner’s Washington Street studio. It was staffed by 13 employees, including Horner, and consisted of several rooms on the eighth floor and a print room on the roof of the building. There were dressing rooms for customers, a waiting room, an office, “mounting and chemical rooms,” and a dark room. Photographs were taken in the “working room.” In the print room, more than 1,800 photographic prints could be produced in a single day.<a href="#_edn21" name="_ednref21">21</a></p>
<p>Horner regularly photographed major-leaguers until 1909, including established veterans and rising stars, and obscure players who would have brief careers.<a href="#_edn22" name="_ednref22">22</a> Though ballplayers of this era were a rough bunch, Horner made them look like princes. Following a practice that was common then (and still in use today), he applied touch-ups to mask facial imperfections.</p>
<p>Here is one of the team composites distributed by <em>Sporting Life</em> during this period. For these collages, Horner’s portraits were cropped and arranged, possibly by Horner himself.<a href="#_edn23" name="_ednref23">23</a> Though dated 1906, this composite depicts members of the world-champion 1905 New York Giants and was published in the October 21, 1905, issue of <em>Sporting Life</em>.</p>
<p><a href="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1905-NY-Giants-composite-Horner-Carl.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone  wp-image-202201" src="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1905-NY-Giants-composite-Horner-Carl.png" alt="Composite photo of the 1905 New York Giants team, published in the October 21, 1905, issue of Sporting Life." width="450" height="477" srcset="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1905-NY-Giants-composite-Horner-Carl.png 510w, https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1905-NY-Giants-composite-Horner-Carl-283x300.png 283w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px" /></a></p>
<p><em>Sporting Life</em> also issued a series of more than 600 individual portraits on cabinet cards. Not all, but probably more than half, were Horner’s portraits.<a href="#_edn24" name="_ednref24">24</a></p>
<p>Horner’s work can be seen in at least a dozen baseball card sets of the era. His portraits of American Leaguers appeared on cards distributed with caramel from 1903 to 1904 by the Breisch-Williams Company of Oxford, Pennsylvania. Both his AL and NL portraits appeared in decks of game cards distributed from 1905 to 1906 by the Fan Craze Company of Cincinnati. They also appeared in the 1909 Ramly cigarette card set from the Mentor Company of Boston and the 1909-11 “Colgan’s Chips” set from the Colgan Gum Company of Louisville.</p>
<p>Unknown artists applied color to Horner’s portraits, and these “colorized” versions appeared in several more card sets issued between 1909 and 1911. These include sets distributed by <em>Sporting Life</em>; the Philadelphia Caramel Company of Camden, New Jersey; the American Caramel Company of Philadelphia; the Williams Caramel Company of Oxford, Pennsylvania – and, notably, the T206 cigarette card set from the American Tobacco Company of Durham, North Carolina.<a href="#_edn25" name="_ednref25">25</a></p>
<p>If there is a “Mona Lisa” of baseball portraits, it is Horner’s 1903 portrait of <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/honus-wagner/">Honus Wagner</a>.<a href="#_edn26" name="_ednref26">26</a> A colorized version was distributed in small quantity as part of the T206 set. In 2022, one of these rare T206 Wagner cards was sold for $7.25 million.<a href="#_edn27" name="_ednref27">27</a></p>
<p>Here we see Horner’s 1902 portrait of <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/nap-lajoie/">Nap Lajoie</a> on three cards produced between 1905 and 1911: a <em>Sporting Life</em> cabinet card on the left; a T206 cigarette card in the upper right; and a Fan Craze game card in the lower right. A Lajoie cabinet card like this one was sold in 2016 for $40,992.<a href="#_edn28" name="_ednref28">28</a> In 2024, a T206 Lajoie portrait in near mint condition sold for $15,600.<a href="#_edn29" name="_ednref29">29</a></p>
<p><a href="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1902-Lajoie-Nap-portrait-Horner-Carl.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone  wp-image-202200" src="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1902-Lajoie-Nap-portrait-Horner-Carl.png" alt="Carl Horner’s 1902 portrait of Nap Lajoie appeared on three baseball cards during the Deadball Era." width="450" height="406" srcset="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1902-Lajoie-Nap-portrait-Horner-Carl.png 529w, https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1902-Lajoie-Nap-portrait-Horner-Carl-300x271.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px" /></a></p>
<p>Horner’s portraits appeared also on postcards from the Rose Company of Philadelphia, the Rotograph Company of New York, and the Souvenir Post Card Shop of Cleveland. And 16 of his portraits (one player from each major-league team) adorn the box that houses “Major League Indoor Base Ball,” a table-top game introduced in 1913 by the Philadelphia Game Manufacturing Company.<a href="#_edn30" name="_ednref30">30</a></p>
<p><a href="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Horner-Carl-Major-League-Indoor-Baseball-Game.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone  wp-image-202203" src="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Horner-Carl-Major-League-Indoor-Baseball-Game.png" alt="Major League Indoor Base Ball table-top game" width="403" height="260" srcset="https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Horner-Carl-Major-League-Indoor-Baseball-Game.png 679w, https://sabrweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Horner-Carl-Major-League-Indoor-Baseball-Game-300x194.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 403px) 100vw, 403px" /></a></p>
<p>Active socially, Horner was a member of several organizations, including the Photographers’ Club of New England,<a href="#_edn31" name="_ednref31">31</a> the Swedish Club of Boston,<a href="#_edn32" name="_ednref32">32</a> and the Swedish Masonic Club.<a href="#_edn33" name="_ednref33">33</a> And he was an avid yachtsman in the South Boston Yacht Club.<a href="#_edn34" name="_ednref34">34</a></p>
<p>In 1910 Horner moved his studio to 250 Huntington Avenue<a href="#_edn35" name="_ednref35">35</a> (one mile from <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/park/fenway-park-boston/">Fenway Park</a>), where he continued his work until 1926. After an illness of two months, he died at home on November 29, 1926, at the age of 62.<a href="#_edn36" name="_ednref36">36</a></p>
<p>Horner’s wife and daughter, Thorella and Estelle, operated the studio until the late 1930s. According to the 1930 US census, Thorella was a photographer and Estelle was the business manager. Thorella died on July 26, 1949, at the age of 77. Estelle died on October 21, 1978, at 85. Horner’s brother Axel worked as a photographer in Brooklyn until the 1920s; he died at age 94 on September 15, 1951.</p>
<p>By photographing hundreds of major leaguers from 1902 to 1909, Horner, a Swedish immigrant, helped to popularize the great American game, and he created a vivid record of the era for future generations to enjoy. Among his portraits are classic images of 10 of the first 13 men elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame: <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ty-cobb/">Ty Cobb</a>, <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ban-johnson/">Ban Johnson</a>, <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/walter-johnson/">Walter Johnson</a>, Nap Lajoie, Connie Mack, <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/christy-mathewson/">Christy Mathewson</a>, <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/john-mcgraw-2/">John McGraw</a>, <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/tris-speaker/">Tris Speaker</a>, Honus Wagner, and <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/cy-young/">Cy Young</a>. In 2024, the Hall honored the contributions of Horner and other baseball photographers in a traveling exhibition titled <a href="https://baseballhall.org/news/hall-of-fames-picturing-americas-pastime-exhibit-opens-feb-17-in-dubuque-iowa"><em>Picturing America’s Pastime: A Snapshot of the Photograph Collection at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum</em></a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Learn more</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://hornerportraits.org/">Check out more of Carl Horner&#8217;s portraits at hornerportraits.org</a>, curated by Stephen V. Rice.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Acknowledgments</strong></p>
<p>Genealogist <a href="https://findyourswedishancestry.com/about-me/">Johan Grönberg</a> obtained information about Horner’s family from Swedish archives. Larry S. Pierce and David Cycleback advised on antique photographic equipment and methodology.</p>
<p>This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Larry DeFillipo.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Sources</strong></p>
<p>These online sources were accessed in April 2024: Ancestry.com, Baseball-Reference.com, OldCardboard.com, and TCDB.com (Trading Card Database).</p>
<p>Chapman, Jim. <em>Baseball Photography of the Deadball Era</em> (self-published), 2023, <a href="https://chapmandeadballcollection.com/">chapmandeadballcollection.com</a>.</p>
<p>Polito, Ron, ed. <em>A Directory of Massachusetts Photographers, 1839-1900 (The Online Edition)</em>, 2018.</p>
<p><em>Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards, 6th Edition</em> (Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications), 2016.</p>
<p>The images in this article are in the public domain. The photo of Carl J. Horner is from the March 5, 1899, issue of the <em>New York Telegraph</em>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Notes</strong></p>
<p><a href="#_ednref1" name="_edn1">1</a> Carl J. Horner, “Photography in 1901,” <em>Boston Post</em>, December 29, 1901: 20.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref2" name="_edn2">2</a> “The ‘Official Photographer,’” <em>Sporting Life</em>, June 20, 1903: 4.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref3" name="_edn3">3</a> “Amateur Clubs Organized,” <em>Boston Globe</em>, April 19, 1886: 2.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref4" name="_edn4">4</a> “G. Waldon Smith, Photographer,” <em>Boston Globe</em>, October 21, 1888: 3.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref5" name="_edn5">5</a> <em>Boston Herald</em>, May 29, 1889: 2.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref6" name="_edn6">6</a> Axel Horner’s studio was located at 222 Court Street in Brooklyn. He and Carl Horner were business partners until 1905.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref7" name="_edn7">7</a> “Photography’s Early Evolution, c. 1840-c. 1900,” at <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/photography/Photographys-early-evolution-c-1840-c-1900">Britannica.com</a>.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref8" name="_edn8">8</a> Advertisement in: <em>The Posse Gymnasium Journal</em>, Posse Gymnasium Club of Boston, October 1895: 12.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref9" name="_edn9">9</a> Walter E. Woodbury, <em>The Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Photography</em> (New York: Scovill &amp; Adams Co., 1896), 75.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref10" name="_edn10">10</a> Sarah S. Wagner, “Gelatin Silver Prints,” National Gallery of Art Online Edition at <a href="https://www.nga.gov/research/online-editions/alfred-stieglitz-key-set/practices-and-processes/gelatin-silver-prints.html">NGA.com</a>.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref11" name="_edn11">11</a> “Holiday Bargains 25% Discount,” <em>Boston Globe</em>, February 16, 1896: 18.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref12" name="_edn12">12</a> “The Photographers,” <em>Buffalo Commercial</em>, June 27, 1896: 15.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref13" name="_edn13">13</a> “The Prominent Portrait Photographers of the United States of America,” <em>New York Telegraph</em>, March 5, 1899. The other Boston photographer to make the list was Elmer Chickering.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref14" name="_edn14">14</a> “How Connie Mack’s ‘Pack of Discards’ Fought Their Way to the Top,” <em>Boston Post</em>, September 29, 1902: 3.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref15" name="_edn15">15</a> <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/jake-morse/">Jacob C. Morse</a>, “Boston Briefs,” <em>Sporting Life</em>, September 13, 1902: 3.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref16" name="_edn16">16</a> “The ‘Official Photographer.’”</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref17" name="_edn17">17</a> “The ‘Official Photographer.’”</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref18" name="_edn18">18</a> “The ‘Official Photographer.’” Horner also offered for $2.50 each (about $85 in 2023 dollars) 26-by-21-inch composite photographs that show his portraits of nearly every player in the American or National League. The 1902 composite, with 123 AL portraits, can be seen at <a href="https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:sf268878n">DigitalCommonwealth.org</a>.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref19" name="_edn19">19</a> “Miscellaneous Sports,” <em>National Police Gazette</em>, April 22, 1905: 2.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref20" name="_edn20">20</a> “The Base Ball Photographer,” <em>Sporting Life</em>, April 8, 1905: 4.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref21" name="_edn21">21</a> “Best Arranged Studio in Boston Is Horner’s,” <em>Boston Journal</em>, September 20, 1905: 8.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref22" name="_edn22">22</a> Research for this article found no evidence that Horner photographed minor leaguers, but other portraitists did. One was Harvey C. Weasner of Buffalo who photographed Eastern League teams. Weasner’s portraits are similar in style to Horner’s.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref23" name="_edn23">23</a> Most, but not all, of the portraits used in <em>Sporting Life</em> team composites were taken by Horner.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref24" name="_edn24">24</a> Estimated by the author from the style of portrait. Plain-clothes images of Rube Waddell, Honus Wagner, and Christy Mathewson, for example, were likely not from Horner; they differ from Horner’s style and were published in <em>Sporting Life</em> between 1899 and 1901. For comparison, see the gallery of <em>Sporting Life</em> cabinet cards at <a href="https://www.oldcardboard.com/w/w600/w600gal1.asp">OldCardboard.com</a>.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref25" name="_edn25">25</a> “T206” is an identifier assigned by Jefferson Burdick in his classic reference, <em>The American Card Catalog</em>. ACC designations for other sets mentioned in this article are: American Caramel (E90), Philadelphia Caramel (E95 and E96), Williams Caramel (E103), Breisch-Williams (E107), Colgan’s Chips (E254), Ramly (T204), and <em>Sporting Life</em> (M116, W600, and W601).</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref26" name="_edn26">26</a> Horner’s famous portrait of Honus Wagner appeared in the September 7, 1903, issue of the <em>Boston Journal</em>.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref27" name="_edn27">27</a> Dan Hajducky, “Rare T-206 Honus Wagner Baseball Card Sold for Record $7.25 Million in Private Sale,” August 4, 2022, at <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34347728/rare-t-206-honus-wagner-baseball-card-sold-record-725-million-private-sale">ESPN.com</a>.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref28" name="_edn28">28</a> “Mile High Card Company May Auction Obliterates Previous Record Prices,” May 2016, at <a href="https://www.milehighcardco.com/viewuserdefinedpage.aspx?pn=May2016PostAuction">MileHighCardCo.com</a>.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref29" name="_edn29">29</a> “1909-11 T206 Sweet Caporal 150/30 Napoleon Lajoie (Portrait) PSA NM 7,” January 26, 2024, at <a href="https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball-cards/singles-pre-1930-/1909-11-t206-sweet-caporal-150-30-napoleon-lajoie-portrait-psa-nm-7-pop-two-only-one-higher-/a/50067-58297.s">Heritage Auctions</a>.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref30" name="_edn30">30</a> Mark Cooper with Douglas Congdon-Martin, <em>Baseball Games: Home Versions of the National Pastime, 1860s-1960s </em>(Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 1995), 49.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref31" name="_edn31">31</a> “Photographers Club Dines,” <em>Boston Globe</em>, November 21, 1895: 5.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref32" name="_edn32">32</a> “Dance of the Swedish Club,” <em>Boston Globe</em>, January 26, 1894: 3.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref33" name="_edn33">33</a> “Swedish Masonic Club Banquet,” <em>Boston Globe</em>, June 15, 1905: 5.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref34" name="_edn34">34</a> “South Boston,” <em>Boston Globe</em>, January 26, 1900: 5.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref35" name="_edn35">35</a> “Real Estate Transactions,” <em>Boston Globe</em>, April 27, 1910: 3.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref36" name="_edn36">36</a> “Carl J. Horner Dies in Ashmont Home,” <em>Boston Globe</em>, November 30, 1926: 11. Horner’s burial place was not reported.</p>
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