Baseball Pictures > Pres. Taft at Wash-Chicago Baseball Game 2/4/30 (LOC)

Harry Angstrom August 19, 2010 at 8:12 pm

The 1930 title for this picture is probably misleading. Here is the argument:

1) The LoC text shown above also mentions the date of Aug 13, 1912.

2) Here is Washington team’s schedule for 1912, from :
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/WSH/1912_sched.shtml

In 1912 WSH played played CHW 11 times at home and 11 times in Chicago, here are the dates:

1912 WSH Home games vs CHW (11 games):
May 7,8,9, 10
July 13, 15, 16
Aug 13,14, 15, 16

1912 WSH Away games vs CHW (11 games)
June 5,6,7,8
Aug 4, 5, 6, 7
Sept 20, 22nd (dbl header)

So there was a WSH-CHW home game on the Aug 13, 1912 date, lending support to that date.

3) Taft died March 8, 1930 at age 72. He was ill and in and out of hospitals from January, 1930. On the other hand, he looks relatively hale and hearty in this photo.

4) Do the uniforms of the players and clothes of the fans look more like 1930 or 1912?

5) An article from NYTimes published August 13, 1912 (but dated Aug 12) reads: Taft will see Nationals Play To-day." President Taft, Major D. L. Rhoads, his personal aid; Gen. Clarence R. Edwards, and W.C. Herron, the President’s brother in law, will occupy a box at American leage Park tomorrow, when the Washington team plays its first home game in several weeks and meets Chicago. The President believes Washington has a chance to win the pennant this year."
query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E04E4DB1630E233A…

It would seem likely that the date is actually 1912 and not Feb, 1930.

The 1912 date is interesting as this date is right in the midst of the political turmoil about the 3-way, or 4-way election of 1912, between Taft, T.R. Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.

Wystan August 19, 2010 at 8:53 pm

Attn. LOC: You need to correct the date in the title of this photo.