New book takes an in-depth look at early baseball photography
- Charity Fitch
- Aug 29, 2023
- 4 min read
Jim Chapman of Waxahachie recently published a book, “Baseball Photography of the Deadball Era,” highlighting photographs of 1900-1920 baseball, the photographers who captured them and the hobby itself.
The book contains hundreds of photos of Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and other baseball icons. The book’s website describes these images as “gorgeous and rare” and “never seen before by the public.”
In a review in “Sports Collectors Daily,” Rich Mueller describes Chapman’s book as the “Google Maps for the images that brought baseball into the national consciousness.”
While Chapman collected baseball cards as a kid, he didn’t start collecting photos until about 10 years ago. The first photo he collected was of Sam Crawford of the Detroit Tigers – a photo he had seen before because it was on Crawford’s baseball card.
“I realized I wasn’t as interested in the cards as I was in the actual photographs, which I didn’t really know that those existed,” Chapman said. “You see baseball cards out there all the time, but you just don’t see those original photographs.”
Chapman explained how that original photograph was sharper and clearer compared to the baseball card. Often baseball cards take out the background of the photo and replace it with a solid color. It isn’t until you see the original photo that you can determine where the photo was taken and what might have been happening.
“Baseball cards are a delightful daydream,” Chapman said. “Photos are a time machine that really transports you back and places you in that moment and in that place.”
From there, collecting photographs turned into a hobby. He now has hundreds of photos in his collection.
The reason many people never see the original photo is because they weren’t meant to be distributed to the public, Chapman said. The photos were taken by photographers for the press, and the photo would stay in a file at the newspaper until it was needed again. Once archives of publications were digitized, original photographs started becoming available. Many of Chapman’s collection are wrinkled or have a corner cut out, showing how it was handled at that time.
“These were working press photos, Chapman said. “You have corners that were flipped. There’s markings that are all stamped on the back of them.”
Photographers had their own stamp they would place on the back of a photograph to receive the proper credit. In Chapman’s book, he highlights which stamps photographers used during specific time frames.
Finding these photos is no easy feat, Chapman said. His primary source is auction houses, but occasionally he will find photos on eBay or at antique stores. Chapman said you can spend years looking for a specific photo and never see it.
“The inventory is so limited,” Chapman said. “You can look on eBay. You can look on the auction houses, but you’re really a prisoner of when something rolls up.”
Chapman soon discovered another side of his newfound hobby – researching the story of the photo. While some photos include lots of information on the back, others had nothing. In his book, Chapman outlines how he researches, which tools he uses and gives example research projects.
One of his favorite discoveries was a picture of Eddie Collins with the historic Ellis County Courthouse in the background – which Chapman recognized. He began researching to see why a major league player was in Waxahachie and went on to learn how many major league teams held spring training at Jungle Park, now known as Richards Park, for about six years. Chapman later found photos of Ty Cobb training in Waxahachie.
As he started researching the photographs, he began to appreciate the photographers.
“To me, it’s just fascinating to uncover the backstories of all these photographers who have not gotten their due,” Chapman said.
Because there is not a lot of information on the photographers, Chapman had to find newspapers with genealogies, obituaries, or stories of them retiring and talking about their work. Many times, he would research other ways like university newsletters, deeds and more.
“Some of them are more well known,” Chapman said. “You can get a lot of the basics, but then you have to dig in to get the rest of the story.”
When Chapman decided to write a book on his research and photo collection about a year ago, he immediately got to work, spending countless hours working on it and designing the entire book himself in Microsoft Word. His limited-edition books were sold out within 36 hours, and “Baseball Photography of the Deadball Era” is now sold at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, located in Cooperstown, New York.
Chapman said when he started this hobby, he never would have expected to write a book. This one was a passion project and a labor of love. Could another book be in the future? Chapman said he doesn’t think so, but it’s possible.
Chapman will be discussing his book from 5:30-7 p.m. Aug. 17 at Nicholas P. Sims Library’s lyceum and at 7 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Ellis County Museum.
For more information or to purchase Chapman’s book, visit https://chapmandeadballcollection.com/ or follow @ChapmanDeadballCollection on Facebook and Instagram.
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