• Card series: 1880s: Spotted Ties
• City: New York
• Team: Metropolitans
• League: American Association

James John Roseman (1856-1938) was born on the day America celebrated its four-score anniversary and seven years before Lincoln would use that language at Gettysburg. Brooklyn-born, Chief debuted with Brooklyn Chelsea of the League Alliance in 1877. The League was a loose consortium of clubs, the brain-child of Al Spalding as a minor league serving to prepare players for the National League which had organized the prior year. Chelsea was one of 28 teams spread from New England to Minnesota. A teammate of Roseman’s was Larry Corcoran who would become one of the very few to pitch in the majors using each arm. Chief moved to two other League teams in ’77, and was with several other minor league clubs before joining the Troy Trojans of the NL in 1882. He was a regular in the outfield for a team led by the great Roger Connor at first. Other luminaries on that Troy team included Buck Ewing and Tim Keefe. Roseman had been with the NY Metropolitans of the Eastern Championship Association in ’81 and returned to their American Association incarnation in ’83 where he would be a fixture in the outfield for five seasons. Roseman concluded his MLB career with three more AA teams, finishing with Louisville in 1890.

• Chief’s career average was .263 in seven seasons. He showed some power with NY where he hit 14 of his total 17 home runs
• Played in one post-season tourney, the first, in 1884, between the NL’s Providence Grays and his Mets. Roseman hit .333