I recently ran into some fantastic vintage 1950's press photos on eBay and knew I had to share some of them here. They were all taken by veteran New York Post photographer William N. Jacobellis, and they feature several Dodger players at Vero Beach, Florida in the 1950's. Unfortunately, an exact date is not provided. Also, all the photos are actually "contact prints" -- prints made by placing the original negative directly on the photographic paper. So, the prints are only as large as the negative itself (4" x 5"in this case). Click on any pic to embiggen.
The photograph at the very top features longtime Dodgers executive Al Campanis as a young coach (auction link here). He is running calisthenic drills on the field. Below is a fantastic posed shot of Jim Gentile, Jasper Spears and Dick Gray (auction link here).
On the bottom left is another posed photograph -- this time of Joe Pignatano and a Michael Napoli (auction link here). BTW, Napoli was a Dodgers catcher within the teams minor league system throughout most of his eight-year professional career. Unfortunately, he never got a cup of coffee. I am uncertain if he is of any relation to the former Angels catcher of the same name. On the bottom right is an action photograph of Don Demeter swingin' 'n missin' (auction link here).
The notable thing about the action photos herein is that they were clearly taken at another ballfield, other than Holman Stadium, at Dodgertown. It's possible they were from one of the backfields in Vero Beach. Considering the wire fencing and some of the landmarks in the backgrounds this is likely the case. In fact, in the photograph on the bottom left of Johnny Roseboro you can clearly see the stadium lights of Holman Stadium in the distance (auction link here). On the bottom right is Charley Neal at the plate (auction link here).
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