Bradshaw Hall Swales

 http://research.sabr.org/minors/files/other/Minor_League_NL_Mar_2002.pdf

Bradshaw Hall Swales attempted to do in the 1920s what we are attempting to do now. We have computers and 35 volunteers. Swales had Ernie Lanigan. There is evidence (shaky handwriting) that Swales was working on his rosters and card files up to his death. Shortly after his death in late 1927, his wife donated his collection to the New York Public Library where it resides in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Room. It is probable that Lanigan used the Swales data for his Cyclopedia (1922), and in turn, Thompson and Turkin likely used the Swales data for their Barnes Encyclopedia in 1948. The card collection consists of 8,000 player career records on index cards. The set covers players who appear in his roster books. The last entries in the card files appear to be 1925. Informational data on the cards are first name, last name, date of birth, date of death, height, weight, bats, and throws, colleges-both graduated and attended, teams, leagues, years, and positions. No statistics, but he did list semi-pro and amateur teams. It appears that he garnered data from spring training rosters. Lloyd Johnson has copied all of the biographical data for the 400 players who did not play in the Major Leagues. This is available to researchers. Contact Lloyd for details.

https://archives.nypl.org/mss/2929#overview