Hub Collins

Outfield
  • Card series: Beginnings: 1880's
  • City: Louisville
  • Team: Colonels
  • League: American Association

Hubert B. Collins (1864-1892) was a good-hitting outfielder/second-baseman for two major league clubs from 1886-1892. He came up with the Louisville Colonels of the American Association and moved to the Brooklyn Bridegrooms late in the ‘88 season. Hub played out his career in Brooklyn in both their AA and NL franchises. He managed a fine .284 lifetime average in seven years. In 1890 during his team’s back-to-back title years, Collins led the league in runs scored. The young Louisville native had begun in pro ball with Columbus in the Southern League in ‘85 and came up to his hometown team the next year from Savannah.

  • Brooklyn paid the Colonels $4500 for the young utility man in September 1888
  • Hub suffered a head injury in a horrific collision with Tom Burns in July 1891. A passing locomotive drowned each others’ call for the short fly ball. He never recovered, succumbing to typhoid fever the next spring
  • Hub’s uniform color on this card was changed in January, 2017 from blue to maroon to reflect recent reliable research by Craig Brown & friends at Threads of Our Game. Four cards had been previously released featuring a blue uniform.

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