Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Who is That Mystery Man?

The LIFE Magazine photo archive on Google once again reveals new treasures.

You have to get creative with the search terms, though. Every new search term you add yields an entirely different set of results. Under a search for "world series braves" we find this series of photos of the 1957 World Championship parade down Wisconsin Avenue.

The item of particular interest to Brewers fans comes from these two photos of the Milwaukee Braves Boosters. At the left edge of the frame, next to the Boosters, we get a glimpse of a familiar uniform:


Does that group look like they know how to party, or what? Hilda's got her cowbell at the ready.

Unfortunately, there aren't any better photos of our mystery man, at least none yet posted. The photographer, Yale Joel, doesn't appear to have been particularly interested in him beyond his proximity to the Braves Boosters.

While we don't get a good look at him, we do know a little bit about his jersey. The patriotic "HEALTH" patch was worn on all major league jerseys in 1942 before being replaced by a stars-and-stripes shield. The American Association also wore the patch, and so far as I know, dropped it at the same time. The zip-front jersey with sleeve and neck piping would have been worn that year.

So we have what appears to be an older gentleman wearing a fifteen-year-old uniform to the Milwaukee Braves victory parade. But who is he? Does anybody recognize him? Could he be a former player, turned up to the parade in his old duds like a veteran at the Memorial Day parade? So many questions....

Hat tip once again to Hat tip to Lance Smith for continuing to teach me how to navigate the nigh-impenetrable archive. I can't help but wonder what other old Brews items are hidden out there, obscured by Google's poor search tagging.

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