- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Indianapolis
- Team: Hoosiers (NL)
- League: National League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
An error or a practical joke? The Old Judge series is littered with errors, primarily in the form of misspelled names. There are also a number of cards that are intentionally humorous. The McGreachery card is likely a display of the sense of humor within Goodwin’s art department rather than a mistake.
During this card’s production run from 1887 to 1890, James Laurie White was the oldest player in the major leagues all four years, spanning his age 39 to age 42 campaigns. By that point, White was a baseball veteran of 20 seasons whose tenure predated the National league by five years and ended with the birth of the Player’s League in 1890. By all accounts, White was a serious, religious and principled man who earned the nickname Deacon. White didn’t drink, smoke or gamble and was as knowledgeable and articulate about farming as he was about baseball. Henry Chadwick wrote that White’s character was beyond reproach. Combine White’s character, values, baseball moxie, and his old world perspective - which purportedly included a belief that the Earth is flat - and you can see why the folks at Old Judge might poke fun.
- Excluding the Ars Longa 1880s Diamond Duos & Spotted Ties subsets, Deacon White will be the only player represented in the 1880s base set twice, although his name will still only appear on one card. I just couldn’t resist paying a little tribute to the humor in the Old Judge series by creating a card for the dear old crank McGreachery.
- Why the Old Judge folks assigned the fictitious McGreachery as a manager may be obvious. Why they assigned him to Indianapolis is a mystery and perhaps an inside joke that has long since lost its insiders.
- Watch Burnham is a man who appears in the Old Judge series who actually did manage the Indianapolis Hoosiers - for all of 28 games (losing 22 of them). Perhaps the absence of an enduring Indianapolis manager in the Old Judge series prompted McGreachery's assignment there.
- Only two examples of the original Old Judge card are known to exist
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Indianapolis
- Team: Hoosiers (NL)
- League: National League
John Emmett Seery (1861-1930) played the outfield for and with some of the game’s most colorful characters in the early era of baseball. He debuted with the Baltimore Monumentals in 1884 Seery led his Union League team in batting with a .311 BA. Played under John Montgomery Ward (Ward’s Wonders of Brooklyn) and Mike “King” Kelly (Kelly’s Killers of Cincinnati) during a tumultuous age as teams and leagues were starting and folding abruptly.
- In ’86 with the St Louis Maroons, led the league in games played with 126
- Followed the team’s owner, Henry Lucas, to Indianapolis with the Hoosiers for 3 years
- Demonstrating a good eye, consistently ranked in the top 10 in walks
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Indianapolis
- Team: Hoosiers (NL)
- League: National League
Otto H. Schomberg (1864-1927) played 1B and OF for parts of three seasons in the Major Leagues, for the Alleghenys and Hoosiers. He was a fine hitter but cursed with an erratic throwing arm which led to the demise of his big league career. He shuttled between first and the OF as managers tried to find a place for this promising slugger. Schomberg was also plagued by heart problems and suffered a bout of malaria that combined to end his hopes for a baseball future.
- During his only full season in 1887, Schomberg was among the top ten batters in the NL and received the Spalding Ivory Bat award as his team’s hitting leader
- Schomberg had an entrepreneurial talent that led to a successful career in the timber industry
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Indianapolis
- Team: Hoosiers (NL)
- League: National League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
“The Hoosier Thunderbolt” (1871-1942). In a 10 year career: (8) 20-win & (4) 30-win seasons; 5x strikeout & 2x ERA leader; won pitching’s Triple Crown in 1894. Rusie threw hard for the era, once hitting HOFer Hughie Jennings in the head, inducing a 4-day coma. This event was influential in increasing the pitching distance to 60’6″ from its original 50 feet.
- Once was traded for Christy Mathewson
- Suffered hearing loss due to line drive to the head
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1977
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Indianapolis
- Team: Hoosiers (NL)
- League: National League
Thomas John Esterbrook (1857-1901) played third and first base for seven different teams over 11 professional seasons. In 1884, Esterbrook had a terrific year, compiling a .314 batting average, with 150 hits, 29 doubles, 11 triples, 110 runs and an OPS+ of 150 for Jim Mutrie’s New York Metropolitans of the American Association. By 1889, Dude was player/manager of the Louisville Colonels during one of the most dismal seasons in MLB history (27-111, the worst record in the AA’s existence). As the losses mounted, tempers rose and Esterbrook’s attempts to fine players met with rebellion. He lost his post to “Chicken” Wolf who replaced him only to face the first true players’ strike when owner Mordecai Davidson reinstated Dude’s levies. Ironically, Esterbrook set his career mark, hitting .318 that woeful campaign, albeit in a part time role. His lifetime average in the majors was .261.
- Esterbrook’s confrontational style, evident in his short tenure as a manager, signalled emotional trouble ahead. His life ended at the age of 43 when he jumped from a train that was transporting him to a psychiatric hospital
- The Dude abides
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