40,000 rare baseball images now available in SABR-Rucker Archive

SABR-Rucker Archive (clockwise from top-left): Memphis Red Sox, Lou Gehrig, Minnie Miñoso, Ernestine Petras

AUGUST 22, 2023 — More than 40,000 baseball images from the SABR-Rucker Archive are now available online at SABR.org. The Rucker Archive is one of the most extensive collections of baseball imagery in North America, covering the roots of baseball in the 19th century up to current major league teams and players.

Recently uploaded images — which were donated by longtime SABR member and photo archivist Mark Rucker — include rare photos of baseball greats Lou Gehrig, Hank Greenberg, and Minnie Miñoso; spring training during World War II; reproductions of early baseball cards; along with photos from World Series games, the Negro Leagues, and the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The first batch of 10,000 Rucker Archive images was uploaded to SABR.org earlier this year.

We are now in the process of cataloging in order to make all of the images available as part of the search engine on SABR.org. The catalog for the SABR-Rucker Archive includes 27 distinct metadata fields, ensuring that the history contained in these images is recorded to the greatest extent possible. Please click here to sign up as a catalog volunteer.

Over time, the Rucker Archive collection will become more robust as we work to catalog the entire collection, which totals nearly 80,000 images. SABR also controls the rights to the images in the collection and they can be purchased using the link on each individual image page. For additional licensing opportunities, please contact SABR directly.

To learn more, visit SABR.org/rucker-archive.

 



Originally published: August 22, 2023. Last Updated: August 25, 2023.