Still On Vacation

A quick and lazy post while I'm on vacation. Here's pictures of Ed Herr, Jim Devlin, and Tom Dolan's Old Judge baseball cards-three members of the 1888 St. Louis Whites who also played for the Browns that season.

St. Louis Browns Baseball Currency

I think I first saw these among the Zmotive stuff and wasn't sure what to make of it. While I assumed they were a form of advertising, I wasn't sure specifically what their purpose was until I did a little research today.

Over at Old Cardboard, there's quite a bit of information about baseball currency. In a brief summary, they say that these were an "unnumbered set of 'currency' advertising trade cards" that "carried (an) advertising overprint for numerous advertisers." The fronts had "team owner or manager in oval on left" while the backs had "team woodcuts (composite images of players)."

The cards were 3 3/8 inches by 7 3/4 inches in size and were issued from 1887 until 1893. Three teams (St. Louis, Chicago, and Detroit) were featured in the set and there are currently eight different team/year combinations known to exist. The St. Louis cards are the rarest of the set.

The above photos are of the 1887 and 1888 St. Louis Browns cards.

Never A Legitimate Star

"Never a legitimate star in a legitimate major league..." That's what Bill James wrote about Fred Dunlap in The Historical Baseball Abstract. I think that anyone who's been following this blog knows that I disagree with this and the photo above is more evidence that I'm correct in my thinking.

This a picture of the back of an 1888 Goodwin & Company album of their Champions set of tobacco inserts. It comes from the Zmotive Ebay gallery and I don't have much more information about it. I'm not sure if the album contained all fifty cards or just the eight baseball cards.

But lets think about this for a minute. Goodwin & Company issued a set of fifty cards and in that set included eight cards featuring baseball players. One of those players was Fred Dunlap-the illegitimate Dunlap mixed in with real stars like King Kelly, Cap Anson, and Dan Brouthers. And on top of that, they actually went and included the illegitimate Dunlap in the cover art.

What to make of this? Maybe (and just maybe) the illegitimate Dunlap was, in fact, considered a legitimate star by contemporary observers. Maybe (and just maybe) when Al Spink wrote things like Dunlap was "far and away the greatest second baseman that ever lived" and "of the great players of the olden times Fred Dunlap was considered by many the greatest," he was stating the conventional wisdom of the era. Maybe (and just maybe), we should pay more attention to people like Stanley Robinson who called Dunlap "perhaps the greatest player that ever lived."

There are more quotes about Dunlap like those by Spink and Robinson but I think I've already flogged that horse to death.

Jocko Milligan At The Bat

This image of Jocko Milligan comes from the 1887 Kalamazoo Bats Cabinet card series. These cards are very rare and according to David Rudd Cycleback they were issued as either premiums or proof photographs, although the exact purpose of the cards is unknown.

Most of the 1887 Kalamazoo Bats Cabinet cards that I have seen have a black mount and the words "Smoke Kalamazoo Bats" on them. While this style, with a pink mount, is known, I think this is the first one I've ever seen.

The 1886 Lone Jack Cigarette Cards

The 1886 Lone Jack Cigarette card set is, according to David Rudd Cycleback, among the rarest of 19th century tobacco inserts. Issued by the Lone Jack Cigarette Co. of Lynchburg, Virginia, the set contains thirteen players from the Browns. The pictures used for the cards were taken from the Old Judge set.

The images above are of the Bob Caruthers, Tip O'Neill, and Curt Welch cards.

Silver King

Since I already posted pictures of Caruthers and Foutz, I might as well do Silver King. When the subject of the greatest pitching staff of all time comes up, the St. Louis Browns of 1885-1888 have to be in the discussion. 1887 was the only year when Caruthers, Foutz, and King were all on the team together and each won 25 or more games. Tough to do better then that.

The card is from the 1887-1890 Old Judge series.

Dave Foutz

The above image of Dave Foutz comes from one of my favorite pieces of 19th century baseball memorabilia, the 1887/88 Scrapps set that was issued to celebrate the championship series between the St. Louis Browns and the Detroit Wolverines. According to Cycleback's Online Museum of Early Baseball Memorabilia, ""(little) is known about the orgins of these unusual cards. It was once incorrectly theorized that they were tobacco cards. Most likely they were 'punch-outs' from a kids album. The cards are die-cast and embossed, similar to the 1880's Team Player Die-Casts."

Parisian Bob Caruthers

The Allen & Ginter's World's Champions tobacco card set was released in 1887 and is considered the first significant card set issued. There were ten ballplayers in the 50 card set (which also included boxers, billiard players, wrestlers, and the like) and the cards were inserted in packs of Allen & Ginter cigarettes. A complete set of the ten ballplayers in the right condition is valued at over $78,000.

Above is the Bob Caruthers card.

A quick note: I want to welcome all the readers from Whiteyball to my little blog and thank Dustin for the link. Whiteyball is one of my favorite sites for info on all things Birds On The Bat.

Harry Steinfeldt

This is a picture of a Harry Steinfeldt baseball card from 1911, the year after he got jobbed by Franklin Pierce Adams. Of course I'm having difficulty summoning up a lot of outrage for this St. Louis boy turned traitor.

More Cards From The Browns Champions Subset

The above cards, again from the 1887 Old Judge St. Louis Browns Champions subset, are of Chris Von Der Ahe, Arlie Latham, Bill Gleason, Curt Welch, Doc Bushong, and Nate Hudson.

A Charlie Comiskey Card From 1887

Everybody's favorite 19th century baseball card set, the Old Judge series (catalogued as N172) was released between 1887 and 1890. Issued in packs of Old Judge cigarettes, there were over 500 different players represented, subsets dedicated to specific teams, and minor league players as well. There are still new players and variations being found to this day.

The above Charlie Comiskey card is from the St. Louis Browns Champions subset, issued after the Browns defeated the the Chicago White Stockings in the 1886 World Series.