viz.

Image Credit: E.O. Goldbeck

Over the next couple of weeks viz. will be putting up a series of posts celebrating the etched glass façade of the Harry Ransom Center, and I thought I’d get things rolling with a discussion of a baseball picture I’ve always noticed on the southeast corner of the building. The hand-written caption on the bottom of the photograph’s etching reads “The New York Yankees as seen in San Antonio, Texas – March 31^st, 1922.” San Antonio’s never had a Major League Baseball team, so it’s always struck me as a little bit odd that the Yanks might venture that far south. That said, Babe Ruth stands in the center of the picture, and on first glance it seems entirely probable that the team is on some sort of exhibition tour. Anyways, I thought I’d take a moment and research the photograph before speculating on the reasons for its placement on the outside of the Ransom Center.