Collection of six (6) different original glass plate negatives picturing White Sox hurler Doc White, each produced by noted Chicago photographer Francis Burke. These images, which date from between the years 1906 and 1913, picture White warming up on the sideline prior to a game, with the exception of one spectacular close-up image of him holding a ball. White was one of the top pitchers in the American League at the time of these negatives. In 1906 he led the league in ERA (1.56) and won 18 games to help lead the "Hitless Wonders" to the pennant and a World Series victory over the crosstown rival Cubs. The following season he posted a league and career-high 27 wins. Today, he is perhaps best remembered for throwing five consecutive shutouts in 1904, a record that stood until 1968 when it was broken by Don Drysdale. White retired after the 1913 season with 189 wins and a 2.39 lifetime ERA. All the plates measure 7x5" and display White's name either etched or written on the side. One plate has cracked completely in half (bisecting White's image) and has a chip in the upper right corner (the plate is held together by pieces of scotch tape). The remaining plates display minor flaws along the periphery, with three having a small white label affixed to the upper right corner of the reverse. Very Good condition overall.  

Francis P. Burke (1871-1949) was a prominent Chicago newspaper photographer whose work ranged far beyond baseball. He took thousands of images of immigrant life in Chicago and, in 1912, opened a photo studio with Henry A. Atwell (1879-1949), known as Burke & Atwell, that specialized in theatrical, magazine, and newspaper images. Sometime prior to 1929, Burke severed his partnership with Atwell and opened another studio known as Burke & Koretke. Burke had been the Cubs official photographer in the early 1900s but was later replaced by George Burke (in a story that has been told many times, and which may be apocryphal, Burke lost his job as Cubs photographer simply because a Cubs employee couldn't remember his first name and mistakenly confused him with George Burke). Nevertheless, he was still a frequent visitor to the ballpark and between the approximate years 1909 to 1916, Burke earned extra income by selling his baseball images to various Chicago-based businesses, including Rueckheim Bros. & Eckstein (Cracker Jack), Max Stein, Novelty Cutlery, Crystal Pure Candy Co., Carl Joseph & Co. (tailors), Royal Tailors, and Irwin Howe's Baseball Correspondence League of America, which published a "Pitching Course." To baseball collectors, Burke’s images are ubiquitous and instantly recognizable. Despite the range and relative scarcity of his work, his baseball images are arguably among the best of the deadball era.