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Members of the Bridgeton NJ men’s semipro(?) baseball team posing in front of wood dugout. Team mascot lying on front.
Bridgeton NJ had a long affiliation with minor league baseball and by the age of these players certainly not a high school or college team. See below for 2 better known members of the team from that summer.
Printed LL BRIDGETON BASEBALL TEAM 1908
AZO photographic paper dates it from 1904-1918.
Pop Kelchner
Rising out of a Pennsylvania Dutch farm background, Kelchner went on to be both a college professor and to sign 86 major-league players, believed to be the most in history.
In 1907 Pop was a player/manager for the Kane (Pennsylvania) Interstate League club, which gave Jake Daubert his start in professional baseball. The 1908 season saw him as player/manager in Bridgeton, New Jersey. In 1909 he served two clubs, Harrisburg in the Tri-State League as captain and scout, and Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics, for whom he began his major-league scouting career, serving in that position for three years. In 1910 and 1911 he was player/manager for Clearfield in the Blue Ridge League.
Although he continued to dabble occasionally in managing, Pop began his long full-time scouting career in 1912 with the St. Louis Browns, scouting for them till 1917. He moved over to the Cardinals in 1918, remaining there until his death in 1958. He and Charley Barrett were first colleagues with the Browns from 1912-1916 and were together with the Cardinals from 1918 until Barrett’s death in 1939. According to the latest research, Kelchner and Barrett – in that order – were the two most prolific signing scouts in major-league history.
Perhaps his greatest managerial feat took place in the summer of 1918, when he managed the 1918 Lebanon Bethlehem Steel League team, which at different times included future Hall of Fame players Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, and Stan Coveleski.
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/pop-kelchner/
Mike Balenti
Yet while football may have been Balenti’s best sport, he also starred at track and field and baseball while at Carlisle. And it was in baseball that he carved out a career including two stints in the major leagues. Possessing tremendous speed and a strong throwing arm, attributes highly valued in the Deadball Era, Balenti, a right-hander who stood 5-feet-11 and weighed 175 pounds, quickly ascended to the major leagues after his year at Texas A&M. But it was his bat that kept him from staying at that level. First with the 1911 Cincinnati Reds, then with the 1913 St. Louis Browns, Balenti was unable to stick in the majors. But he stuck with baseball, playing regularly in the minors until 1918, then appearing sporadically as he moved from the minors to semipro teams and back again until 1926.
In 1908 Balenti was elected captain of the baseball team. He moved over to shortstop to take advantage of his strong arm. That summer, he played semipro baseball for the Bridgeton, New Jersey, town team. His manager was Charles “Pop” Kelchner, the Albright College baseball coach and a future scout for Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics. Playing under the name Mike Ball, Balenti had an excellent summer.
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/mike-balenti/
