DATE OF IMAGE: 1944-45 PRINT DATE: 1960s ORIGINAL or REPRINT: Type 2 Original - Printed from the original negative, but in a later period TEAM: Brooklyn Dodgers SUBJECT: Eddie Stanky PHOTOGRAPHER: George Burke APPROXIMATE SIZE: 5"x7" Doubleweight NUMBER OF PHOTOS: 1 COMMENTS / CONDITION: A bit of history on this photo: George Burke was the photographer who took the original photo of the player, producing the original negative. Following Burke's death in 1951, George Brace inherited or obtained Burke's archive of negatives from which he continued to produce prints as well as continuing to photograph players himself and add to the archives. At some point, Brace became friends with Jim Rowe who was also an avid baseball photographer and who, like Brace, marketed images of old-time and current players through various hobby publications and outlets for autographs and general collecting. Brace loaned Rowe a large number of Burke's negatives to use in producing his photos (incidentally, the negatives were never returned to Brace or his daughter, which would become a point of contention later on, but that's another story), and the black-bordered photos that I am currently listing were first produced by Rowe in the 1960's from those George Burke negatives loaned to him by George Brace. Technically, each would be considered a 1st Generation (developed from the original negative) Type II (developed during a later period) photo. Though I am unsure of their original intended purpose, they have the appearance of being proofs, and the full margins of the negative can be seen on each which yields some interesting information as to Burke's filing system. Whether these were actually proofs, or were intended to be cropped down to the more traditional 4"x6" dimensions of Burke's photographs, or were simply Rowe making use of the more conventional 5"x7" size without using an enlarger, I do not know. Whatever their intended purpose, the superiority of Burke's talent is evident as the contrast and clarity of these photos is much better than those typically seen from Rowe who appears to have been more concerned with the quantity of players in his catalog of available images than the quality of the images themselves (with the exception of the Burke images, of course). It is also interesting to note that, in addition to several oft-repeated images of stars and future Hall of Famers, there are a number of little-known players included in this collection for whom few photographic images exist. In general, wear to the photos is minor and is confined to the edges and corners, leaving the central image unblemished. George Burke was the undisputed master of baseball photography for two decades, and his images are always a pleasure to work with. These are a bit larger than his usual 4''x6'' photos, and though I have seen examples of these "proofs" a few times elsewhere, are much harder to come by than the smaller prints of his images. Please see the scans of each photo for further details. We do not deal in stock images or modern reprints, and all scans shown are of the actual item being sold. If you have any questions about a particular piece, please ask before the auction ends. BIO: Edward Raymond Stanky (The Brat or Muggsy) was born in 1915 in Philadelphia, PA and died in 1999 in Fairhope, AL. He played major league baseball from 1943 to 1953 as infielder for the Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers, Boston Braves, New York Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals, appeared in the 1947, 1948 and 1951 World Series, and was selected 3 times as an All-Star. His Giants manager Leo Durocher once summed up Stanky's talents: "He can't hit, can't run, can't field. He's no nice guy... all the little SOB can do is win." SKU: L13008
Item: L13008
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