Who's that guy?

June 18, 2012 9:20 PM

Are you familiar with the circa 1960 Chicago White Sox?

I have this picture. The guy on the left is my dad and it was probably taken around 1960-1965. Is the guy on the right a player/coach/manager? If so, who?

I'm not sure why my father was wearing a White Sox uniform (and as far as I know, he's always been a Cubs fan) and he passed away recently so I can't ask. No one that I've asked in my immediate family knows who it is so it also seems unlikely to be a friend of his.

posted by otherwordlyglow to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (12 answers total)

If I had to bet, I would bet Joe Cunnigham the first baseman pictured here. He was a first baseman and so it the person pictured with your dad. He was also a lefty.

The 1960 White Sox wore numbers on their sleeves. Your father does not have that on his uniform.

Same for the 1961 Pale Hose.

The 1962 team.

The 1963 team featured a player named Dave DeBusschere who later went on to fame as a member of the 1969 NY Knicks championship team.

(You can get almost any year around that time by changing the year in the url for the pages I already linked.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:54 PM on June 18, 2012

If I am right, Cunningham played for the south siders in 1962, 1963 and part of 1964.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:56 PM on June 18, 2012

Response by poster: Yeah, the picture of Joe Cunningham seems likely. Being a lefty himself, my Dad definitely would have had an affinity for a fellow southpaw but I still wonder why they're together!
posted by otherwordlyglow at 10:08 PM on June 18, 2012

There's a written 5 on the glove. Cunningham was number 5 for the White Sox according to the Baseball Reference link.

Do you know where this photo was taken?
posted by aloysius on the mixing boards at 10:20 PM on June 18, 2012

Another Joe Cunnigham picture. Your pic looks like him.
posted by caclwmr4 at 10:30 PM on June 18, 2012

Do you know where this photo was taken?

Old Comiskey Park. Bah. Wikipedia has the field dimensions different from other sites.
posted by aloysius on the mixing boards at 10:32 PM on June 18, 2012

Response by poster: It was surely in Chicago so old Comiskey seems right.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 10:38 PM on June 18, 2012

I was not old enough to see the old Commisky in 1963, but from my recollections in the late 80's that looks like the old lady.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:55 PM on June 18, 2012

How old is your dad in the photo?

It's interesting he has his sleeved pushed up, and it looks like it was like that for some time. And all things considered, that uniform fits him pretty well--your dad was fairly short, I'd guess? Joe is listed as 6'0 so your dad looks to be a little under five and half feet tall. That's pretty short for a major-league player even in 1960. No one on the major-league squad in 1963, for example, was under 5'8, and even then, that was one guy. Looking a bit more closely, I guess the uniform looks a little big, but not by much.

Did your dad have any sort of business relationship with baseball, either with the League or supplying the stadium?
posted by maxwelton at 12:03 AM on June 19, 2012

The lower deck arches are a pretty good indication that was the old Comiskey park. I miss that place.

Anyway, I wonder if they had the concept of a "fantasy camp" back then?
posted by SteveInMaine at 3:28 AM on June 19, 2012

Response by poster: He was more like 5' 8" or 9". He was in advertising so maybe there was a business relationship but I don't know if anything in particular. He was born in 1935 so if it was 1963 he would be 28 in the picture.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 6:13 AM on June 19, 2012

Its Comiskey all right--you can tell by the open air "windows" behind them.
posted by Ironmouth at 6:20 AM on June 19, 2012