Wee Willie Keeler demonstrates his classic bunting form. This image was part of a series of three shots obviously taken at the same batting session. Ours is the center shot and is among the most iconic of Deadball images. Red Kleinow is the catcher behind the plate. Kleinow was his teammate, so this was obviously taken during batting practice.
We know the photographer was Robert Tebbs, based off his copyright on this composite photo of Highlander players in 1907. We also know it was Tebbs based on his stamp on another copy of our image. The image to the left of ours with Keeler holding his bat high has a Paul Thompson stamp, but his agency, The Article Syndicate, likely received the image from Tebbs.
These three Keeler photos were taken at Piedmont Park in Atlanta in the spring of 1907 when the Highlanders were in Spring Training there. Compare a known image of Piedmont Park as shown in the March 26, 1906 edition of the Atlanta Constitution below at top with our photo below at bottom. The stadium is a clear match. Compare the facing on the deck, we see the same railing and two horizontal planks on the each of the photos. Additionally, the columns are behind the railings on both, and there are open bays on the ground level in each. Also, the solid wooden wall to the left of the photo and the horizontal railing at the rear of the upper deck’s exterior edge all correlate in the photos.
The uniform Keeler is wearing is the Highlander’s 1906 road uniform. In that era teams routinely wore the previous season’s uniforms in Spring Training. Additionally the first appearance of one of the three photos in a newspaper occurred on April 16, 1907 when the Keeler elevated bat photo appeared in the Evansville Press and a few other papers. This was only a few weeks after the image would have been taken. All of these facts confirm a Spring Training 1907 date for the photos. Also the March 4, 1907 edition of the Atlanta Constitution mentions Keeler being there and that the Highlanders would use Piedmont Park as the new Ponce DeLeon Park was not quite ready.
Our photo is mounted to a heavy board and was marked up for publication. It was once owned by the Evening Telegram as shown on the top stamp and was also owned by The Ringas shown by the “Return to Nat Fleisher” annotation on back. Fleisher was The Ring’s editor.
Also shown below is a later 8 x 10 newspaper image of our photo that was reproduced from our photo. The board our photo is mounted on shows “Willie Keeler in his famous bunting pose” directly below the photo. The later newspaper photo of our image has the same caption written on back and was likely created from our photo.
