The postcard is annotated on the front that it was taken during the August 3, 1911 baseball game between the Detroit Tigers and the Boston Red Sox. It has an unposted back with period CYKO postcard markings. The Red Sox did indeed beat the Tigers 3-2 in 12 innings that day at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston.

The shot is an action shot and is blurry as a result. We are viewing the action from behind third base and the distinctive Bull Durham tobacco bull ad is evident in right field at the left edge of the photo.  The “MA” in the Fatima cigarettes ad is to its left of the bull at the photo’s edge. We can see the third base coach at the extreme right edge, the first base coach in the distance at right, a runner pulling into third and a runner streaking towards second base.  The first baseman is by the bag, the second baseman is on the edge of the outfield grass, the shortstop is on the first base side of the bag at second, the right fielder is just to the left of the front legs of the bull at the fence and the third baseman may be just hidden by the runner at third.

It is evident by the uniforms that Detroit is the team at bat.  The Tigers socks are solid and caps are dark.  The distinctive red band on the Boston players’ socks are also evident. These match the Detroit road and Boston home uniforms for 1911.

Here is the game description of the 4^th inning when the Tigers scored their two runs as taken from the Detroit Free Press newspaper of August 4, 1911:

Here is the boxscore take from the same Detroit Free Press article:

Here is a portion of the cartoon recap of the game from the August 4, 1911 Boston Globe newspaper:

And here is the Bull Durham bull ad with the right fielder evident at the left of the front legs of the bull, also note the right fielder’s shadow on the fence

From the RPPC photo and these three newspaper clippings we know:

1) That the baserunner shown in the RPPC is legging out a double and that Sam Crawford was the only Tiger to hit a double that day;

2) That Crawford hit it off the right field fence and the position of the fielders strongly suggests that is what has happened;

3) The DFP article states that Crawford claims he was owed $50 for hitting the target in right field;

4) The Boston Globe says Crawford claims he is owed $50 for hitting the bull;

5) We can see the bull in right field with the right fielder under it in the RPPC; and

6) We also know that Cobb was on board ahead of Crawford, left from first and stopped at third on his double. The runner in the RPPC is just pulling into third and as the trailing baserunner is 2/3 of the way to second it suggests the lead runner left from first on the play.

Add it all together and the conclusion follows that the action we are witnessing is the Detroit top of the 4^th when they scored two runs. The runner we see at third is Ty Cobb and the runner streaking to second is Sam Crawford. Hughie Jennings is likely the third base coach or first base coach. The right fielder is Harry Hooper, the shortstop is Steve Yerkes, the second baseman is Heine Wagner and the first baseman is Clyde Engle.