Cubs historical sleuthing: 1950s edition

I have seen this photo at a number of places, mostly on Facebook, and every time it says, “Cubs game 1959” or something similar mentioning that year.

Before I get to the full sleuthing of this photo, it is obvious from the very start that this isn’t 1959. How do I know that? Because the Cubs aren’t wearing home pinstripe uniforms. They began doing that in 1957. Before that, from 1945-56, they wore plain white (actually a bit off-white) uniforms exactly like the ones depicted here.

Here’s the full photo again, and you can click here for a larger version:

One thing that’s good about this photo for sleuthing purposes is that we have clearly visible numbers on several people: The first baseman, the first-base coach, and the on-deck hitter.