Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Earl Baxter Williams - the college years

Earl Baxter Williams was born January 27, 1903, in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee.  He attended Maryville College and went on to a seven season minor league career.  He made it to the majors, playing three games with the Boston Braves in 1928.  He and his brother, Roger, were associated with WNOX, an early radio station in Knoxville.

Digging through the Chilhowean yearbooks from Maryville College I've pulled out some photos of Baxter, as he was known.
UPDATE: April 23, 2014 - I shared this post with Mark Fimoff, co-chairman of the SABR Pictorial Committee.  I'm adding his comments in red in the captions of the photos.

1921 Maryville College baseball team
1922 Chilhowean (page 127)
Close up of Baxter Williams
1921 Maryville College Baseball Team
(images straightened and background filled in)

1922 Maryville College baseball team
1923 Chilhowean (page 150)
Close up of Baxter Williams
1922 Maryville College Baseball Team
is likely a different person than the 1922 Baseball Team Portrait (B. Williams)

1923 Maryville College baseball team
1924 Chilhowean (page 171)
Close up of Baxter Williams
1923 Maryville College Baseball Team
is for sure a different person than the 1922 Baseball Team Portrait (B. Williams)
Baxter was a multi sport athlete.  He hurt his ankle and sat out a few games of football.
1924 Chilhowean (page 160)
the same person as the 1922 Baseball Team Portrait (B. Williams)

1923 Maryville College track team
1924 Chilhowean (page 173)
Close up of Baxter Williams
1923 Maryville College Track Team
In the 1924 Chilhowean he is listed as a member of the Glee Club and also of the M Club (letterman's club)

1924 Maryville College baseball team
1925 Chilhowean (page 133)
Close up of Baxter Williams
1924 Maryville College Baseball Team
is yet another person, he may be a match to R. Williams in the 1922 Team photo but I'm not at all sure of that
UPDATE continued: Taking a look with fresh eyes, I'd agree that the final photos (1924 MC Baseball Team) are not of Baxter Williams.  Perhaps the photo was taken after Baxter went to the Knoxville Pioneers.  It has a resemblance of his brother, Roger Williams from the first photo.  There are more people in the 1923 Team photo than have names listed.  Perhaps Baxter is dead center in front of the brick wall.  I still see Baxter Williams in the 1922 Team photo.  I'll try to isolate and group the closeups for easier comparison. - Mark


The student newspaper reports that Baxter didn't complete the last two games of the 1924 season because he had signed with the (Knoxville) Pioneers.

The Highland Echo
June 4, 1924

all images from archive.org

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