Friday, April 15, 2011

Holy Cross Catcher

Okay, I'm seeing that this is going to turn into a regular feature, and at the moment is pushing aside sports cards.  I'm fine with that.  I'll get back to cardboard eventually.

Courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

The Boston Public Library's Leslie Jones Collection has this photo of Teddy Ballgame in an exhibition game.

Their description says:
Title: Ted Williams hits a grand slam against the Holy Cross varsity team in Worcester
Date created: 1939-04

Summary: Boston Red Sox rookie Ted Williams batting against the Holy Cross varsity team in Worcester, Mass.
Although they don't specifically say that the catcher is unidentified, they don't actually identify him.  That's where I step in.

The Lewiston Daily Sun - April 15, 1939
 From this newspaper article we can see that Holy Cross's catcher had the surname of Barry.

I sought out Meredith Cook, an assistant director of athletic media relations at the College of the Holy Cross, for more information on the catcher and whether he was at all related to Jack Barry, longtime coach at the school.

She replied that the catcher for that season was named David Richard Barry and was not sure if David was related to Jack or not.  I did a bit of research and Jack Barry left no children.

Image linked from crossports.com

I'm not sure who the umpire is, but another player has been identified.

2 comments:

  1. Nice work picking out these photos and players. Quite a sight to see Williams playing on bare ground! Wonder how far he had to the hit the ball for it to be "gone?" Perhaps onto the hill itself?

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  2. Nice job digging up these beautiful photographs. In the first one it looks like the catcher is about to be beaned by the follow through.

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