Topsy Hartsel, Philadelphia Athletics, 1909
Photographer: Charles Conlon
Photo Subject: Topsy Hartsel in 1909 posing with his bat at an opposing team’s ballpark. I am assuming the image location is Hilltop Park in New York City, and the opponents were the New York Highlanders, who four years later would become the New York Yankees.
Fun Fact: Tully Frederick Hartsel was short in stature, standing 5’ 5” tall and weighing in at a stocky 155 pounds. His diminutive height helped him lead the league five times in walks. He also was known to be quick on the base pads and was good with a bat. This combination, his ability to get on base plus his with prowess on the base pads made him an ideal leadoff man for manager Connie Mack.
It was at Indianapolis when he played for the Hoosiers that Tully Frederick Hartsel acquired the nickname Topsy. Hal Reid, an Indianapolis sportswriter, noted the young Hartsel’s white hair, eyebrows and lashes, pink complexion and light blue eyes and remarked, “Say, boy, you’re as light as Topsy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin is black.” He was known as Topsy for the rest of his life, and still is to this day. One observer later remarked that Hartsel was “generally known by the fans when he steps to the plate by his shock of white hair.”
Painting Detail: Printed on 13” x 19” canvas and painted using Schmincke Mussini and Marshall’s oil paints. Finer details, like cap pinstripes, were made using Prismacolor pencils.
Acknowledgement: Topsy Hartsel, John R. Husman; an article written for the Society for American Baseball Research