Call me a simpleton; The Giving Tree is one of my favorite books. A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends are pretty good, too, not to mention the fact that they provide about 80% of grade school memorization test material. So when I came across this story about digging through Shel Silverstein's archives, I read. Turns out he was from the Southwest Side of Chicago, was a lifelong White Sox fan, a hot dog vendor at Comiskey Park in the 40's, and a writer for Playboy.

In a June, 1962 four-page spread for the mentioned magazine, Shel is featured practicing and hanging out with the Sox during spring training in Sarasota, Florida. Here's the first two pages and the second two pages.

In the first link, number 6 would be light-hitting utility infielder Al Weis, who would get his major league debut that September. 10 would be Sherm Lollar, turning 38 that year, in his second-to-last season in baseball. Also, in one of the photographs, that's Nellie Fox batting while Shel catches. The second link features young Fred Talbot as number 35. He made his major-league debut at the tail end of the 1963 season. Lastly, Tony Cuccinello, a former all-star who played on the Sox from 1943 to 1945, wears number 33.

Apologies to BuehrleMan and others if this has been shared before; it's all new to me. Thanks to Rhubarb for the images.