Charles M. Conlon

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.

It will be a good pickup for you, and it will be something for a day off.”[1] 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.

[2] 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.

"[This quote needs a citation] Conlon retired to his hometown of Troy and died in 1945, predeceased by his wife and having no children or siblings.

After his death, the 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 North Little Rock, Arkansas collector and businessman John Rogers.