Yogi Berra (l.), who caught Don Larsen's Oct. 8, 1956, perfect game and the Dodgers' losing pitcher, Sal Maglie, chat afterward in the Yankee Stadium locker room. Between Berra and Maglie, clutching a can of beer, is the Yankees' long-time public relations man, Jack Farrell.George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Maybe it’s just our imagination, but photographers working years ago seemed to take better, more intimate (i.e., more casual, not so perpetually, consciously posed) pictures of ballplayers in their locker rooms than photographers do today.
Maybe it’s a question of “access” — that catchall term more often employed in the world of celebrities than in big-time sports. Perhaps it has something to do with class — or more specifically, cash. After all, in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, very few ballplayers could be called rich. Many of them worked during the off-season to make ends meet. Most of today’s players, meanwhile, reside in a universe of entitlement and wealth impossibly removed from the day-to-day existence of the vast majority of the journalists covering them.
Or maybe it simply has to do with gender: it wasn’t until the mid-1970s, after all, that women reporters began to conduct locker-room interviews with pro athletes. And even then, it was hardly smooth sailing. In the mid-’80s Dave “Kong” Kingman famously sent a rat to sportswriter Susan Fornoff, to let her know she wasn’t welcome (by him and others of the same mindset, at least) among the boys.
Whatever the reason, old-school pictures from the locker room feel a little more raw, a little more real than those we see today. Here, LIFE.com offers some of the best made by LIFE’s photographers across several decades.
Hell, you can almost smell the Barbasol. . . .
New York's Don Larsen talks to the press after hurling a perfect game against the Dodgers in the 1956 World Series, Yankee Stadium, Oct. 8, 1956.George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesThe Milwaukee Braves' Lew Burdette shares a moment with his son, Lewis, after a game. Lewis is excitedly reenacting one of the pitches his dad threw during his stint on the mound, August 1956.George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesWillie Mays, October 1954.John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNew York Yankee Jerry Coleman takes a drag from a cigarette in the locker room of Yankee Stadium, April 1952, after learning that he has been called to active duty for the Korean War. Coleman was a Marine pilot who previously served in World War II.Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJackie Robinson looks exhausted and dejected in the locker room after a game, May 12, 1955. Francis Miller—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesCarl Yastrzemski, left, and Joe Foy horse around in the Red Sox locker room, May 1968. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesBrooklyn Dodgers Sandy Amoros (with cap), Pee Wee Reese (on trunk), and Duke Snider (with beer) joke around after a game, May 1955.John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesBoston's Ted Williams, left, talks with teammate Gordon Windhorn about (what else?) the finer points of hitting in the locker room during spring training, Sarasota, Florida, 1956. George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesYogi Berra (l.), who caught Don Larsen's Oct. 8, 1956, perfect game and the Dodgers' losing pitcher, Sal Maglie, chat afterward in the Yankee Stadium locker room. Between Berra and Maglie, clutching a can of beer, is the Yankees' long-time public relations man, Jack Farrell.George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesPittsburgh's Dale Long eats a sandwich in the locker room at Forbes Field between games of a double-header against the New York Giants, May 1956.Hank Walker—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesCincinnati Reds manager Birdie Tebbetts, the Baseball Writers Association Manager of the Year, talks on the phone in the locker room during a Labor Day doubleheader against the Milwaukee Braves in 1956.Francis Miller—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesBrooklyn's Gil Hodges smokes and talks to the press in the locker room after a World Series game, October 1956. George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesCleveland's Larry Doby -- the second black player in the major leagues and the first in the American League -- gets a rubdown in July 1955. Francis Miller—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesYankees manager Casey Stengel reads in the locker room, September 1953.Howard Sochurek—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesMickey Mantle grins in the locker room after a World Series game, October 1952.
Mark Kauffman—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesBrookyln Dodgers Property Manager John Griffin in the locker room, 1955.John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesOrlando Cepeda gets dressed in the San Fransisco Giants' locker room in June 1958.George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNew York Giants pitcher Sal "The Barber" Maglie wipes his brow, September 1951.George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesFrank Howard sits in the locker room during the winter league season, December 1959.Hank Walker—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesRoger Maris smokes a cigarette in the locker room at the 1960 All-Star Game in Kansas City.Stan Wayman—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesThe White Sox' Minnie Minoso in the locker room, August 1955.Francis Miller—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesPittsburgh's Elroy Face celebrates a win against the Yankees, October 1960. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesDodger Don Newcombe enjoys a beer in the locker room after Dem Bums won their first (and only) World Series in Brooklyn, October 1955. Grey Villet—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
