Displayed are wonderfully vintage 1911, original (5x7") glass plate negatives of the New York Highlanders, the team that became the New York Yankees. The New York Highlanders entered the American League 120 years ago, in 1903. They were formed when William Devery and Frank Farrell purchased the defunct Baltimore Orioles 1902 franchise. Only a few of the Baltimore Orioles' players - including second baseman Jimmie Williams, outfielder Herm McFarland, and pitcher/utility man Harry Howell, went with the franchise to New York. Former Baltimore Orioles manager, Hall of Famer John McGraw, took most of the best Orioles players with him in his first full season in 1903 as the manager of the National League New York Giants. The Highlanders obtained their nickname in two ways: The team played at Hilltop Park, located at one of the highest places in Manhattan, uptown, and the President of the club, Joseph Gordon, had a last name that recalled the famous British military unit called Gordon's Highlanders. In 1913, the Highlanders moved a few blocks to the Polo Grounds V, and became officially known as the Yankees, even though they had become unofficially called the Yankees in press reports as early as 1904. The offered glass plate negatives were taken at spring training in 1911, at Athens, Georgia. That season the Highlanders had a 76-76-1 record, finishing 6th in the AL. The seventy (70) negatives contain both individual and group photos. A few of the negatives show the large pitching hand of Harry Ables. A few of the glass negatives show players who did not make the team, including pitcher Lefty Williams, who later became a highly effective pitcher with the Chicago White Sox and who became banned from baseball after being one of the 1919 "Black Sox." There are multiples of many players, but they are all in different poses. The lot includes eight (8) vintage prints (some in rough cuts), in sizes up to 5x7", including one of Lefty Williams. Included negatives: Hal Chase, manager and first baseman who hit .315 in 1911; Birdie Cree, who led the Highlanders in batting average in '11, with .348; Duke Farrell (coach); plus Reynolds, Ables, Roach, Johnson, Knight, Hartzell, Jube, Revelle, Bailey, Williams, Blair, Elliot, Lee, Sweeney, Knight, Caldwell, Vaughn, Walsh, and Russell. All are original, from the camera, glass plates. The lot includes eight (8) vintage prints, including one of Lefty Williams. All of the players are identified on the negatives in pencil. The offering hearkens to the turn of the century days of glass negatives and the Highlanders, before the team had won any of its 40 pennants and 27 World Series. This set of glass negatives provides the means for an enchanting trip back in time to the days of the Yankees, before they became "The Yankees."