This mounted photograph was taken on Opening Day 1905 before the game between the New York Giants and Boston Beaneaters by Brown Brothers. We know the occasion as the uniforms match 1905 and the scene matches the newspaper article from the New York Times on April 15, 1905. Boston played the Giants in the season opening game the day before. You can just make out portions of the “Championship Giants” pennants in the Giants automobile.

It appears to be McGraw visible in profile in the front Giants car. Perhaps there are other Hall of Famers also visible.

The Giants won the N.L. pennant in 1904 and refused to participate in the 1904 World Series. The newspaper notes this was an impromptu affair and a novel innovation. This perhaps the first automobile parade for a Major League baseball champion, in this case the N.L. champs. a National Baseball Hall of Fame article states the 1905 Philadelphia Athletics held a parade in October 1905. Fascinating to think the parade pictured in this photo may have inaugurated the enduring tradition of World Championship parades.