FOUND PHOTOS: BASEBALL

In celebration of Major League Baseball's Opening Day, here are four old baseball related snapshots.

Going by the uniforms, this first photo is probably from the late 1800s or early 1900s.  I always love seeing trick photography, especially from way back.

I guess you can say these ballplayers are meeting their new shortstop.

This second photo makes me laugh every time I look at it.  The player looks disinterested and acts like it's no big deal that he just caught the ball.  He's even enjoying a smoke.     

Lets play smoke and catch!

I believe the baseball team in this next photo is made up of Air Force men.  The photo came with a bunch of snaps from overseas during WWII and after.   

Baseball is baseball no matter where it's played.

For the last photo we have a nice looking girl getting ready to enjoy a ballgame.  Looks like she has pretty good seats too!  I was curious to know what ballpark she was at.

Girls love baseball too!

After some internet searches, I realized she's at Sportsman's Park home of the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns.  Here's a close-up of the scoreboard.   

I tweaked the image the best I could so we can read the advertisements.  Falstaff Beer, Gem Razors, Feld Chevrolet and Budweiser beer.  I was hoping to make out the name of the teams, but unfortunately it's too blurry.  Was this gal seeing a Cardinals game or a Browns game? Also, what year is this snapshot from?  Looking closer, the clue is in her hands.

It looks like she's holding a scorecard.  Yes, that's exactly what she's holding and to be specific she's holding a 1953 St. Louis Cardinals program like the one seen below.  Thanks to the pitcher's foot, I was able to find the scorecard and date the snapshot.  (Scorecard image source comes from ebay.)    

In 1953, Sportsman's Park was sold to Anheuser-Busch and the name changed to Busch Stadium.  This was also the last season for the St. Louis Browns as they moved to Baltimore and became the Orioles.