Dodgers Blue Heaven: Legendary Auctions: Some Dodgers' Vintage Photos

Following up on yesterdays post, I now highlight several Dodgers' related memorabilia items currently available through Legendary Auctions.

Featured below is a circa 1950's vintage press photo of Roy Campanella in a catchers crouch. The name of the original photographer is unknown, as well as, the name of news service organization associated with the picture.

(auction link)

This auction also includes original negatives from famed Baseball photographers George Burke and George Brace. These two men worked together to capture Baseball and all of its joy from 1929 to the 1990's. From a biography about them:

Their tenure had an auspicious beginning, to say the least. In 1929, Cubs manager Joe McCarthy and catcher Gabby Hartnett sought out the ballclub’s previous photographer. They could only remember his last name, Burke, so they looked him up in the phone book. A listing leapt out at them: studio photographer George C. Burke, whose office was located near Wrigley Field. Thus began the baseball photography career of George Burke, who had no prior sports experience, and thus ended the career of photographer Francis Burke—the Cubs’ time-honored official cameraman and an unwitting victim of mistaken identity.

George Burke hired a young, baseball-knowledgeable assistant named George Brace, and the two soon became a Chicago institution. Ever-present at Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park, Burke and Brace endeavored to amass a complete portfolio of player portraits—a daunting task made possible by the fact that Chicago was the only city with both an American League and a National League franchise from 1929 all the way until Brace’s retirement in 1993.

Many collectors know their work from the 4"x6" photos they produced and sold through the mail. In fact, like the Perez-Steele postcards sold in the 80's, Brace/Burke photographs were a mainstay for autograph collectors nationwide for several decades. If you do a search on eBay of their names you will find hundreds of their vintage photos for sale, many of which have been autographed.

Below are just a handful of Dodgers' players available in this auction. Again, they are selling the original negatives, so it would be possible to reproduce the photos in mass.

Here is Babe Ruth in Dodger Blue sandwiched between two unknown gentleman.