The New York Clipper

Sorry, no Dottie Hinson or Kit Keller here, just trying to answer a few questions about the Carte de Visite of the young St. Louisan (shown right) that posed for photographers Cramer & Gross, most likely a couple of years after the Civil War had ended.

This carte de visite was sold by Hunt Auctions for $1,463 back in December, but I forgot about it until reading the March issue of SABR’s Pictorial History Research Committee newsletter this past week, on which Mark Rucker shared some comments and also raised some interesting questions about the photograph.

Mark’s comments:

This fine little photograph was made by Cramer & Gross, whose studio was located on Fourth Street in St. Louis, Missouri during and after the Civil War. At this time St. Louis was among the most advanced of all US cities, and would be the second city a tourist would want to visit, after New York.

In this carte we see a young ball player, perhaps ten to twelve years old, wearing a complete, up to date base ball uniform, with a late-1850s style hat. He holds a bat, and brought two others with him, which lie at his feet. The studio where the boy poses is most interesting. It seems to be set up as a 3-dimensional space with leaves overhead, and a real wooden fence, behind which is the backdrop. Or is it a studio? Could this photo have been taken outdoors? After studying this CdV, I cannot tell whether the camera was inside or outside. In this unusual setting the young player is imitating for the camera what he does on the field.

The cool thing for me about this photo is the way the boy poses. He is imitating playing in a game, and is watching an invisible approaching pitch. He is looking up, which indicates the feeder would be offering a high lob pitch, much like slow pitch softball today. He has his bat cocked, and is anticipating the approach of the imaginary ball.

Baseball photos from 1880s photographers’ studios might have shown a ball hung from a string, creating a tableau similar to this one. Cabinet photos of ’80s baseball players would often depict a batter about to hit a ball, or a fielder about to catch a suspended ball. But 20 to 30 years earlier, in circa 1865 St. Louis, this surprising picture expresses the same thing.

Hard not to agree with Mark here.

A fine little photograph but I think it was shot outdoors, probably taken in the schoolyard in which our young fella was studying at the time. Too realistic in my opinion to have been a studio backdrop and even though I’m a fan of cartes with early plain backdrops, it’s hard not to appreciate this piece.

Records show that photographers Gustav Cramer and Julius Gross moved to the ’1264 South Fifth Street’ address starting in 1866 until 1872. Their studio and gallery was previously located at 333 South Fifth Street in St. Louis when they partnered in 1864. The Cramer and Gross partnership lasted until 1878.

German-born Gustav Cramer arrived to the US in 1859 and operated a photo studio in St. Louis from 1860 until 1861 when he enlisted for Civil War service. In 1863 he was working as a photographer in Carondelet.

Julius Gross previously worked as a portrait painter and is sometimes confused with another early St. Louisan photographer by the name of Hermann Gross.

Trying to identify our little slugger could be a difficult task. He could have been playing for his school nine or even for a local junior club. No identification on his belt or even a single letter on his shirt, but he apparently left his signature on the back of the carte, and even though the ink is smudged in the middle of his last name, his identity could be revealed by an observant reader.