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

John Ewing (1863-1895) had three early cups of coffee, playing 1 game in 1883 for the St Louis Browns, 1 game in ‘84 for the “Outlaw Reds” of the Union Association, and 1 game also in ’84 for the Washington Nationals of the UA. In that game, Long John had a triple and scored– the full extent of his offense until returning to MLB four years later. Ewing finally caught on as a pitcher in 1888 with the Louisville Colonels, playing there for 2 seasons before ending his career with the 1890 Giants of the Players’ League and their NL club in ’91 where he went out with a bang, earning the NL’s ERA title with 2.27. In all, Ewing played for six ML teams in four leagues during his brief career.

• Ewing’s brother Buck went on to a Hall of Fame career as infielder/manager
• The brothers were teammates for two seasons and John played under Buck as manager in ‘90