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Cubs historical sleuthing: A man called ‘Bubbles’

The young catcher in the photo above is Eugene “Bubbles” Hargrave. We know this from the inscription on the full photo, which I’ve cropped above. Here it is:

Hargrave played in 41 games for the Cubs as a backup catcher in 1913, 1914 and 1915. We know this photo is from 1914 because that’s the only year of those three where the Cubs wore that particular style of cap.

After 1915, the Cubs sold his contract back to the minor leagues — remember, this was an era far before farm systems, minor league teams were independent and they made independent transactions with big league clubs.