Correcting a Misidentification in the C. S. Fly Photograph of the Tombstone Baseball Team

Camilus Fly’s ca 1885 large format mounted albumen group portrait of the Tombstone Baseball team has the players and manager identifi ed. Individual number 3 is identifi ed as “R. Crouch.” Many assumed that “Sandy Bob” Crouch was the individual captured in this Tombstone Baseball team portrait and have attributed it as such in print.

As a collector I look for patterns and relationships between objects that appear in my images. My primary focus is on photographs, trying to find related images to reassemble sequences that were originally made, and relationships between images with similar content or aesthetics. Sometimes collateral material like letters, letterheads or ephemera can be located to help explore and elaborate on the story embeddeåd within the photograph. I acquired an original copy of the Camillus Fly photograph of the Tombstone, Arizona, baseball team many years ago. I found it compelling as both a piece of Arizona history and as an aesthetically interesting group portrait of an early Arizona baseball team. Unlike many images of this era, both the photographer making the image, and his location (confirming the Tombstone text on the uniforms), and the names of the individuals appearing in the photograph were identified in the print.

Ticket from “Sandy Bob” Crouch’s Tombstone to Contention stagecoach ca 1882-83.

A little background on “Sandy Bob.” Crouch came to the Arizona Territory from California and made his first stagecoach run between Tombstone and Benson on June 21, 1880. His Arizona Mail and Stage Line office was located under the Occidental Hotel at 406 Allen Street in Tombstone. He added a route between Tombstone and nearby Contention in June 1882 and expanded his business as the Arizona Mail and Stage Company The Tombstone to Contention route was unsuccessful and ceased operation in October 1883.

Finding an image of an important and little photographed historical Arizona Territorial figure like “Sandy Bob” would be a coup for any author or collector. Once an attribution is made, whether based on evidence, error or speculation, and the identification makes it into print, it gets repeated, cited and over time, gets harder and harder to correct.

Unfortunately, there is a flaw in the attribution of this as a portrait of “Sandy Bob” Crouch. The Bob Crouch that ran the stagecoach line was born about 1829. He is listed in the 1884 Great Register of Cochise County as being 55 years old. Clearly the individual #3 in the C.S. Fly photograph is not 55 years old, so cannot be “Sandy Bob.” Looking further reveals a potential alternate identification.

The 1886 Tombstone voter registration register lists a Charles Robert Crouch age 21 (born 1864, died August 2, 1897) with his occupation listed as a cattleman. Given the appearance of individual #3 in the photo, it is much more likely that this is Charles Robert Crouch, not “Sandy Bob” Crouch.

Changing this and other incorrect attributions is difficult but needs to start somewhere. I hope you agree and can help share the question about the incorrect identification of “Sandy Bob” Crouch in the Tombstone Baseball Team portrait to set the record straight.