- Series: Pioneer Portraits II: 1875-1899
- City: Boston
- Team: Red Stockings (NL)
- League: National League
Thomas Henry Bond (1856-1941) entered pro ball as the 1st Irishman to do so, and survived to become the last living member of the NL’s first season. In between, he was a force of nature on the mound, leading the NL in wins twice, winning 40+ from 1877-1879 for the Boston Red Caps.
- Hurled 386 complete games in 406 starts with 42 shutouts and ERA of 2.31
- In 1877 won the “triple crown” with 40 wins, 2.11 ERA and 280 SOs
- Compiled a career 234-169 record with a 2.14 ERA, 10th in MLB history
- Bond appeared only once on the Hall of Fame ballot, in 1936, and received only 1% of the votes by the Veteran’s Committee
- Series: Pioneer Portraits II: 1875-1899
- City: Boston
- Team: Beaneaters
- League: National League
Martin Bergen (1871-1900) was the Beaneaters’ catcher his entire, all-too-brief career (’96-99), leading them to two pennants and a 2nd place. Teammates knew him as an “artist” behind the plate and a terror in the clubhouse. Suffering from what would be posthumously diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia, the tortured Bergen took his own and his family’s lives at 28.
- Hall of Famer Jesse Burkett extolled Bergen as the “best the world ever produced”
- Brother Bill was a MLB catcher also for Cincinnati and Brooklyn
- Series: Pioneer Portraits II: 1875-1899
- City: Boston
- Team: Red Stockings (NAPBBP)
- League: National Association (NAPBBP)
Charles Roscoe Barnes (1850-1915) was the best player in the five year history of the fist professional baseball league, the National Association of Professional Baseball Players (NAPBBP), 1871-1875. Barnes is the all-time NAPBBP leader in runs, hits, doubles, walks, stolen bases, total bases, batting average, OBP and SLG%. He then dominated the National League in its inaugural year, 1876, leading the league hits, runs, average, OBP, SLG%, total bases, doubles, triples and walks. He also hit the 1st HR in National League history, for the Chicago White Stockings, 5.2.1876. Over the first six years of his major league career, Barnes' batting average was .397. An unidentified illness limited Barnes to just 22 games in 1877, and he was never the same player again, retiring shortly thereafter at the age of 31.
“Roscoe C. Barnes…was the greatest second baseman the game ever had…” - A History of the Boston Baseball Club, 1897.
"No matter how great you were once upon a time — the years go by, and men forget. Ross Barnes, forty years ago, was as great as Cobb or Wagner ever dared to be. Had scores been kept then as now, he would have seemed incomparably marvelous.” - W.A. Phelan, Baseball Magazine, 1915
- Because he played in the second game in MLB history, is credited with the 17 other players that day as the 27th player to debut in MLB
- 1st hitter to win batting titles in 2 leagues: NA in ’72-73 and NL in ‘76
- In 1918, made Cap Anson’s all-time team as the shortstop
- Barnes was selected as SABR’s ”Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend “ for 2013
- Series: Pilgrims
- City: Boston
- Team: Red Sox
- League: American League
Edward Victor “Knuckles” Cicotte (1884-1969) won 208 games and a World Series with the White Sox in 1917. The Sporting News said in 1918 that “Perhaps no pitcher in the world has such a varied assortment of wares….” But it was Eddie’s first pitch of the 1919 Series that plunked Morrie Rath in the back and signaled the fix was in. No one was ever convicted of the infamous Black Sox scandal but Cicotte, with seven teammates, never played ML ball after his tearful confession following the ’20 season.
- Cicotte, Shoeless Joe, and other banned Sox players went on to barnstorm under false names
- His mastery of the knuckleball led to a transformation of his career. His control improved to the point of walking only 89 in 572 innings in 1918/19 combined.
Auction History
Cartophilia
T201 Mecca Canvas: Ed Cicotte
- Series: Pioneer Portraits I: 1850-1874
- City: Boston
- Team: Red Stockings (NAPBBP)
- League: National Association (NAPBBP)
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Albert Goodwill Spalding (1850-1915) was an elite pitcher who retired at age 27 and proceeded to influence the game as few others have. He helped organize the National League, co-founded A.G. Spalding sporting goods, published the game’s first official rules, traveled the world to promote baseball, owned the White Stockings and led an Olympics, leaving one of the great legacies in sport.
- Was a five-time pennant winner with the Boston Red Stockings and Chicago White Stockings
- Career 252-65 record with a .796 winning percentage
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1939
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