- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Chicago
- Team: Maroons
- League: Western Association
John Francis Dwyer (1868-1943) served MLB as player, manager and umpire. He won 176 games, led the NL in saves in 1893, piloted the ’02 Tigers and officiated Cy Young’s perfect game on May 5, 1904. The Massachusetts native was college-trained when he began his big league career in 1888 with Chicago’s White Stockings. Over his twelve year playing span, the right-hander completed 270 of his 318 starts. Dwyer’s hitting was good enough that he played four other positions, hit five HRs and compiled a .229 BA.
- Dwyer won over 15 games in nine of his twelve years including two 20+ seasons
- Dwyer was the workhorse on Kelly’s Killers (aka Cincinnati Porkers) during their 1891 AA season-still perhaps the rowdiest bunch in a wild era when franchises and whole leagues were forming and folding with abandon. Player-manager Mike “King” Kelly and owner Chris von der Ahe shared the conviction that beer and baseball were made for each other. That Dwyer could win 13 games under their leadership is a tribute to his athletic prowess.
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Pittsburgh
- Team: Alleghenys
- League: National League
Frederick C. Dunlap (1859-1902) strode the heights of baseball throughout the 1880s as the “king of second basemen.” Highest-paid, adored by fans, sought by clubs who needed to win, the slick-fielding, sharp-eyed batsman could write his own ticket, and did. When Detroit (which had paid a record price to secure him from St. Louis) wanted to sell him to Pittsburgh, “Sure-Shot” demanded and nearly got half the proceeds. Despite never using a glove, this graceful fielder consistently ranked as the best at his position. In 1910, the founder of The Sporting News said he had seen them all and Dunlap was “the greatest that ever lived.” Yet his fall equaled his rise: forced out by a broken leg, a decade later his fortune was gone, as were his friends and health. “King Fred” died in 1902 “clean broke” without enough to carry his coffin.
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Chicago
- Team: Maroons
- League: Western Association
Daniel Edward Dugdale (1864-1934) had a brief exposure to major league baseball but carried the game’s torch to Seattle where he dominated the Pacific Northwest sports scene for 36 years until his sudden death crossing the street in front of a truck the night before his annual banquet celebrating the game. Big “Dug” had been a savvy catcher for the KC Cowboys and Washington Senators before migrating west seeking Klondike gold. He settled in Seattle where his devotion to baseball and his entrepreneurial instincts melded into a different kind of gold. He founded and managed teams, he built the first double-deck stadium on the coast, he was a warrior fending off the Pacific Coast League invaders from California. At last, he settled for being a legend in Rainier’s shadow, extolled at the banquet he missed as the Northwest’s “greatest individual figure in the national game.”
- When he decided to stop being the backup to Deacon McGuire in D.C., Dug went home to Peoria and founded the Distillers in what was then the world’s spirits capital
- Dugdale Park endured for decades until it perished two years before its owner, victim to a serial arsonist with an oil drum in the heart of the all-wood structure
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Chicago
- Team: White Stockings
- League: National League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Hugh Duffy (1866-1954) is as much a baseball institution as the Hall of Fame that enshrines him. For 68 years he devoted himself to the game he loved and excelled at as few ever have. In 1894 he set the all-time mark with a .440 average while winning the triple crown. He made HOF pitchers look like batting practice coaches: .586 against John Clarkson, .650 vs Cy Young. Amos Rusie was the exception, holding Duffy to a mere .333. So diminutive Cap Anson nearly dismissed him (“We already have a bat boy”), Hugh hustled his way to becoming the only player to hit .300 in four leagues and let the power follow his form (“hit ‘em up the middle”) winning two HR titles. Duffy went on to coach, manage, scout and mentor for a half-century after hanging up his spikes. He was still hitting fungoes eight years after his induction into Cooperstown and delighted in pupil Ted Williams’ success as he sought in vain to eclipse Duffy’s record in 1941.
- Playing career spanned 19 years, primarily in Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia
- Played center field for the Beaneaters next to his “Heavenly Twin,” Tommy McCarthy in right, leading Boston to a pair of pennants
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1945
- Although the Old Judge series features five known poses of Hugh Duffy, I could not find one of suitable quality for this project. This image is taken from a cabinet photo produced by the Elmer Chickering Studio in Boston.
- Update, 4/26/2017: I found a suitable image for Duffy from the original Old Judge series. This card has been replaced and retired and is now considered an outtake.
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: St. Louis
- Team: Browns (AA)
- League: American Association
Charles Edward Duffee (1866-1894) was an outfielder for four clubs from 1889 through 1893, beginning with the St Louis Browns for two seasons, then playing during one year each for the Columbus Solons, Washington Senators and Cincinnati Reds. That last assignment was very short-lived, as Duffee played only four games in April, 1893.
- Duffee’s career BA was .267 with 35 HRs and 33 triples
- “Home Run” Duffee hit 16 in his rookie season, third in the AA
- Duffee’s career was cut short by ill health, and he died of “consumption” Christmas Eve, 1894
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