It’s been a favorite baseball trivia question for decades.
Who was the third baseman during the Chicago Cubs “Tinker to Evers to Chance” era?
Franklin Pierce Adams wrote the poem about the double play combination of the Cubs powerhouse teams of the early 1900s so you can’t blame him for leaving the very capable Harry Steinfeldt out of his legendary prose.
While Joe, Johnny and Frank would go on to the Hall of Fame, Steinfeldt sort of slipped into baseball obscurity. While he joined the other members of the northsiders’ infield in baseball card sets like T206, the number of original Steinfeldt photos that have come to market is minuscule. Now, though, a one-of-a-kind photo taken by a Chicago sportswriter is up for auction.
The 3x 5 ½” image is part of RMY Auctions’ current online catalog.
The photo was taken during the Cubs’ 1906 spring training camp, several months after Steinfeldt was acquired in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds, and might be the first photo of Steinfeldt as a Cub. Steinfeldt made an immediate impact, hitting .327 and leading the National League in hits and RBI. Two years later, he’d win the first of back-to-back World Series titles while manning the hot corner. He was part of four pennant winning teams in five seasons with Chicago. In 21 World Series games, he hit .260 (19-for-73) with three doubles, a triple, 8 RBI, two stolen bases and seven runs scored.
Sadly, his life came to an end just six years after the second championship.
The photo is one of over 1,200 in the auction, which runs through Saturday.
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