Sam Gnifkowski, early baseball star

The man behind the kid here is Sam (the kid is Raymond Blake).  When I asked Anon about the strange spelling and unfamiliar (local?) unpronounceable  name of Glifnifkowski, he answered like this:

Sam Gnifkowski's name has two spellings.  The one I have on the photo was the original spelling on the picture.  His real spelling is the one you see here first.  He was one of the original members inducted into the MN Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame in 1963. He was from St. Cloud, possibly hired to play for Buckman in the mid-20's. 


Wow, so Buckman possibly imported talent in 1925?  And Sam evidently went on to bigger things, since by 1963, he was a charter member of the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame.

I found the listing when I googled "Sam Gnifkowski, baseball".  There's a pdf online of the 2010 handbook...and there's Sam!  I hope it was a useful relationship for Buckman and for Sam.  

Ok, that's the extent of my knowledge of amateur baseball.  The only other unfamiliar name on that 1925 team is Ed Kohler....another hired gun, maybe? Two hired players would be more benefit to the team, I'd think....

THANKS, and there's another question, Anon ☺!

Later: Aww, look what Larry found:  This was published last September, in the Morrison County Record.  The team intends to make a tradition of it--cool!