• Card series: Pioneer Portraits I: 1850-1874
• City: Washington, D.C.
• Team: Nationals
• League: National Association (NABBP)

Colonel Frank Jones, Cmdr of the 31st NY Regiment, former Excelsior of Brooklyn player, and then Treasury official, was pres. of the Washington Nationals in 1867. He had recruited top NY players such as George Wright to create a powerhouse. Their tour of the West, covered by “Father Henry” Chadwick, brought baseball to the national consciousness.

• The Nats’ thrashing of Harry Wright’s famed Red Stockings prompted him to build the 1st openly professional team
• Nats’ only loss on the tour was to Al Spalding’s Forest City club