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Woman cherishes dad’s photos

A Cincinnati Reds Base Ball 1935 official score book. It belongs to Julia Whitaker, a Kettering resident. It was collected by her dad Forrest S. Yantis.

Ron Alvey A Cincinnati Reds Base Ball 1935 official score book. It belongs to Julia Whitaker, a Kettering resident. It was collected by her dad Forrest S. Yantis.

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A picture of Ty Cobb as provided by Julia Whitaker. Her dad, Forrest S. Yantis photograhed baseball players in 1920's and 30's. Cobb played for the Philadelphia Athletic's in 1927 and 1928.

provided by Julia Whitaker A picture of Ty Cobb as provided by Julia Whitaker. Her dad, Forrest S. Yantis photograhed baseball players in 1920's and 30's. Cobb played for the Philadelphia Athletic's in 1927 and 1928.

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Julia Whitaker, a Kettering resident, looks at a 16x20 prints of Lou Gehrig. The pictures were taken by her father Forrest S. Yantis. Whitaker also has the original negatives of a lot of the baseball pictures that her dad shot.

Ron Alvey Julia Whitaker, a Kettering resident, looks at a 16x20 prints of Lou Gehrig. The pictures were taken by her father Forrest S. Yantis. Whitaker also has the original negatives of a lot of the baseball pictures that her dad shot.

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By Marc Katz, Staff Writer Updated 12:42 PM Sunday, July 26, 2009

KETTERING — The images of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tris Speaker, Jimmie Foxx, Rogers Hornsby and Bob Feller — and so many others — are so good that a local camera store said it couldn’t make copies, “because the pictures were professionally done (by someone else),” Julia Whitaker said.

“I went back home and returned with the negatives.”

To get beyond any copyright issues, Whitaker had to prove the pictures were originals and not owned by somebody else.

What she has now is a collection of about 100 prints — most 16 by 20 inches — and about 70 negatives of the most famous baseball players from the 1920s and ’30s — all taken by her father, the late Forrest S. Yantis, who operated an insurance agency in Troy and was an avid amateur photographer.

Some of them are autographed, which makes them more valuable. Without seeing them, Steve Verkman of Clean Sweep Auctions in New York said the collection could be worth as much as $100,000.

Yantis was a sports fan, too. He played baseball at Defiance College, from where he graduated in 1924, and his favorite team was the Cleveland Indians. Many of the pictures feature Cleveland players. However, several are of National League stars, so Yantis must have made trips to Cincinnati as well. There was no interleague play back then.

“He had one of these big box cameras on a stand,” Whitaker, 80, recalled. “He’d put a black (cover) over his head. It must have been a pretty good camera, judging by the results.”

The pictures, 70 to 80 years old, are black and white, clear and focused, easily as nice as the famed Charles Conlon collection, which has been sold as sets of baseball cards.

Whitaker knew of the pictures because she accompanied her father on his many trips to Cleveland.

“I was born in 1928, and I remember some of those long trips to Cleveland,” Whitaker said. “They didn’t have freeways in those days. My dad would drive my mom and I and drop us off at his mother’s sister’s house in Shaker Heights. He would go to the game, come back and pick us up. I don’t remember staying overnight.”

Those were in the days of day games, before Cincinnati staged the first night game in 1935.

Whitaker says she is not a big baseball fan, but listens to games sometimes. She does know the pictures are valuable.

“I don’t know how he got on the field,” Whitaker said. “But he took his pictures mostly during batting practice. He returned home, developed the pictures (either at a nearby store or by himself) and drove back to Cleveland. He’d give one print to the player and have another for the player to sign.”

Yantis hung several of the pictures — especially the autographed ones — in his Troy office.

Both the Indians and the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., are interested in the photos.

Whitaker always knew the pictures were in a box underneath her mother’s bed, because the two of them would pull them out from time to time after her father died in 1987.

When her mother, Glenna (a native of Newton), died in 1996, Whitaker retrieved the pictures.

“They were in a beat-up box you wouldn’t believe,” Whitaker said. “I’m surprised they survived. I have them in acid-free covers now.”

She is having copies made for each of her four children, and trying to decide what she’ll do with the originals. The camera store readily obliged.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or  mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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