Baseball’s Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon
Neal McCabe & Constance McCabe
Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
1993
The fact that this fabulous yet little-known book concerns baseball is of secondary concern. What will excite you is the incredible photography contained between its covers. Though the material is somewhat documentary in nature, there’s no question that Charles M. Conlon (1868-1945) had an artist’s eye. I’m curious if he ever applied himself to anything beyond the world of Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb. If he did, I’m sure it would also be worthy of our attention, more than a hundred years after his prime.
Starting as a proofreader for newspapers in New York City, Conlon transitioned to the camera when he was assigned to take photos of some ballplayers for the Spaulding Baseball Guide in 1904. Quickly off and running, he went on to produce more than 30,000 images over the next thirty-seven years. His work was unlike anything anyone else was doing at the time, distinctive in its proximity to and intimacy with his subjects. Beginning with a Graflex camera that delivered 5×7 glass plate negatives (no simple task to operate!), a sweetness and humanity is evident in every exposure he made. On the technical side, many of the ballplayer portraits convey the feeling of a Petzval lens, with short depth-of-field, blurry edges and a swirly bokeh. Equally intriguing, the book’s reproductions of his prints are faithfully smooth and silky, evoking the texture of gelatin-silver processing. I saw them as mesmerizing witnesses to a long-lost place and time. While turning each page, I couldn’t help wondering how to achieve his effects with a digital sensor and the DI suite. I’ll be sure to investigate and will report back on what I find.
Conlon labored in obscurity throughout his career, lost among the horde of anonymous photographers who filled the needs of the many broadsheets and tabloids of the day. Retirement brought more of the same. Most of his negatives are lost; only 8,000 have survived and are now part of the The Sporting News archive. If anyone ever deserved to be drawn from the shadows and celebrated for the genius he was, it is him.
Do yourself a favor and track down a copy of this book. If you haven’t figured it out already, I can’t recommend it highly enough!
Babe Ruth, 1927.
Lou Gehrig, 1927.
Perhaps Conlon’s most famous photograph… July 23, 1910, Hilltop Park, NY; Ty Cobb slides into third base as the Detroit Tigers defeat the New York Highlanders, 6-2.
Love this!
A wonderful story of talent emerging and making a lasting mark. These images are what I see in my mind’s eye when I think of Baseball. The shallow focal plane makes me feel that Babe and Lou are looking right at me out of the mists of time.
Richard,
A present day successor to Conlon is the great photojournalist David Burnett. Although he also shoots his assignments using Sony still cameras, he always carries a Speed Graphic. He has used it to shoot numerous Olympic sports and politicians. The effect is much the same as Conlon’s pictures.
My first exposure (pardon the pun) to photography was my father’s Speed Graphic with which he shot 4×5 black and white film and hand tinted the prints. At the age of five or six he taught me to make prints in the darkroom he built in the basement of our apartment building in Chicago.
Cheers, JG
John! I am indeed with David Burnett’s work…and it’s equally impressive. I send you my best and hope all is well!
The Yankees should look so good now. Terrible second part of this season so far.
Oh my God, Roberto…they’re terrible!
PAINFUL to watch…. but I keep watching…
I know. It’s a hard habit to break. Like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
When baseball was gritty and players actually played on sand lots
and mainly played for the love of the game. Great emotion comes forth
from these photos.