Charles M. Conlon

Charles M. Conlon
Born	(1868-11-28)November 28, 1868 Albany, New York
Died	June 2, 1945(1945-06-02) (aged 76) Troy, New York
Occupation	Baseball photographer

Charles Martin Conlon (November 28, 1868 – June 2, 1945) was an American photographer born in Albany, New York who grew up in the neighboring city of Troy.

Conlon started his career working for New York City newspapers in the early 1900s, as a proof-reader, and took up landscape photography as a hobby. New York Evening Telegram editor John B. Foster, who also produced the annual "Spalding Base Ball Guide", asked Conlon to take photographs of the players for the well known annual. Conlon later wrote in The Sporting News that “'[Foster] came to know about my hobby—taking pictures. He said to me one day, ‘Charley, they need pictures of ball players for the Guide, and there is no reason why you can’t take pictures of the players, as well as landscapes. It will be a good pickup for you, and it will be something for a day off.’”

Conlon used a Graflex View camera and large format glass plate negatives before switching to film, in all he created at least 30,000 images over his career that spanned 1904-1941. Most of his archive consisted of thousands of portraits of major league baseball players, however his most famous photo is a fortunate action shot of Ty Cobb sliding into third base at Hilltop Park in 1910, upending the fielder, Jimmy Austin. This photo, and many of his images, of baseball's early stars are instantly recognizable, due to having been frequently reprinted over the years and the subject of several books, trading cards and documentaries. The Cobb photo is considered the first "action" sports photo.

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Clearing Space

Conlon destroyed possibly thousands of his original glass plate negatives to clear space in his small home, stating in 1937 "Some years ago, I found that my plates were running me out of the house, so I destroyed hundreds of them. Perhaps it was a mistake, but where would I have kept them? It is possible that had we had a Cooperstown museum at the time, they would have found a haven there."

Later Years

Conlon retired to his hometown of Troy and died in 1945, predeceased by his wife and having no children or siblings.

The Sporting News / John Rogers Fraud

After his death the famous archive of 8,300 negatives, less than one third of the total number of images he created, was owned by The Sporting News before it was sold in 2010 to disgraced North Little Rock, Arkansas collector and businessman John Rogers. Rogers was arrested on multiple charges including fraud surrounding sports memorabilia and several newspaper and famous photographers archives, including the Conlon Collection, in 2016 after his home and office was raided in 2013. In December 2015 a Arkansas judge ruled the negatives could be sold to pay off some of the millions of dollars in debt owed by Rogers. The archive, now consisting of 7,462 negatives with no record of where the missing negatives went while in Rogers possession, was sold by Heritage Auctions for $1,792,500. Rogers is also being sued by several newspapers and the family of George Burke for fraud as thousands of original negatives from several archives have come up missing.

References

• Amedio, Steve. "Underexposed: Only after his death did Albany's Conlon gain fame for baseball photos". The Gazette of New York state capital region. June 4, 1995. Pages E1–E8. Accessed April 3, 2010.
• Conlon, Charley. "Charles M. Conlon". The Sporting News. May 27, 1937. Accessed March 3, 2007; April 3, 2010. — In print the title may have been "Three In One", or that may have been the title of a regular feature by editor Spink that Conlon was invited to fill for this issue.
• McCabe, Neal. Baseball's Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon. Abrams, 2003. ISBN 0-8109-9119-5 — 205 photos (Amedio, E8)
• The Conlon Gallery