Illinois Giants OR Lost Island Lake Giants

Detail of recently auctioned photo from the Phil Dixon Collection.  Source: Hunt Auctions

 The above photograph was recently sold online with the following description:

Illinois Giants Negro League Semi-Pro Barnstorming photograph c.1915 Original 2 1/2"x4 1/4" sepia tone snapshot image of two un-identified players from the Illinois Giants who were a Midwestern Negro League semi-pro team from 1909-1929.

 

Looking closely at the uniforms however, I wonder if this isn't instead a picture of two players from the 1917 Lost Island Lake Giants, a predecessor to Gilkerson's Union Giants.  The large letters running vertically along the buttons appear to me to read L-I-L and not I-L-L.

The only known photo of the Lost Island Lake Giants we have to compare it to is the team photo which ran in the Sioux City Journal, September 13, 1917.  The angle at which the players are standing makes it difficult to tell, but I believe the GIANTS across the chest is a match.  (That is Robert Gilkerson standing at the front of the line.)

As for the Illinois Giants, they were actually two distinct teams that used that name.  Both have connections to Robert Gilkerson.

The original Illinois Giants were an African American semi-pro team that played primarily in Chicago but also barnstormed around Illinois and Michigan starting in 1909.  When Gilkerson arrived in Chicago in July of that year, the Illinois Giants were one of the first teams he played for.  The team however was only together for two seasons.  There is no evidence that the Illinois Giants were still playing around 1915, when the photograph at the top was thought to have been taken.

In 1921, Louis Murphy, a white theatre owner and wannabe baseball promoter from Spring Valley, Illinois, organized an all new African American barnstorming team called the Illinois Giants.  The team, which was usually advertised as being from Chicago, had several good players over the years, including a young Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe.  Radcliffe eventually played for Gilkerson for part of a season.   He was one of several men to play for both clubs.  

La Crosse Tribune and Leader Press, August 8, 1921

Murphy and Gilkerson, both from Spring Valley, certainly knew each other.  They were mostly cordial towards each other in the press and were very likely friends off the field.  On the field however, Gilkerson's Union Giants and the Illinois Giants were rivals, going head to head against one another multiple times over the years.

The Chicago Whip, Oct. 7, 1922

The Illinois Giants stayed together until at least 1928, after which Murphy went on to manage one of the House of David teams that barnstormed across the country.  Again, Gilkerson and Murphy's teams continued to clash from time to time, much to the delight of baseball fans across the Upper Midwest.

Back to the photograph at the very top, the question remains who might the players be?  If they are indeed members of the Lost Island Lake Giants, they are very likely one of these men:

• W. H. "Bingo" Bingham
• Hugh Blackburn
• Edgar Burch
• ? Davis
• ? Francis
• Will Jones
• ? Lynch
• Hurley McNair
• ? Meredith
• Jess Turner
• Ruby Tyrees
• Clifford White

Can anyone help narrow it down even more?