- Series: Pioneer Portraits I: 1850-1874
- City: Troy
- Team: Haymakers
- League: National Association (NAPBBP)
William Flynn (1849-1881) was one of the remarkable group of early baseball players to come out of Lansingburg (Troy) NY. This small town had an out-sized impact on the game as amateur ball was being born on a national scale right after the Civil War. Flynn was a first-baseman for the Troy Haymakers from 1867-69 before joining teammates in Chicago with the White Stockings in 1870, all with the National Association of Base Ball Players. He became part of the first openly professional sports league when the Haymakers helped form the NAPBBP in 1871. The following season, Flynn moved south for a brief stint with the D.C. Olympics but the club disbanded after a mere nine games in ‘72. The slightly-built Flynn hit .338 in ‘71, ranking with the leaders on the team. He managed only a .225 average in his final tour with the Washingtons. The 1880 census-taker found “Clipper” home in Lansingburg with his wife and four kids where he worked in a brush factory.
- Flynn and his Troy mates did deprive Harry Wright’s all-pro Cincinnati Red Stockings of one more win in their undefeated 1869 season. The teams were deadlocked at 17-17 when the visiting New Yorkers left the field in the sixth inning
- Series: Spearheads
- City: Boston
- Team: Red Stockings (NAPBBP)
- League: National Association (NAPBBP)
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
George Wright (1847-1937) was considered baseball’s best player while starring for the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the game’s first professional team. He continued to excel at shortstop and at bat for the team his brother Harry moved to Boston in 1871. He co-founded Wright & Ditson Sporting Goods, contributing to tennis, hockey and golf, building America’s first public course. He also fathered two US tennis champions.
- Wright was a seven-time league champion with Cincinnati, Boston and Providence
- Was a consultant on the foundation of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1937
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- W.S. Kimball (N184) Canvas:
Tip O'Neill, Champion Base Ball Batter
- Series: Spearheads
- 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 NL, 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
Auction History
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- W.S. Kimball (N184) Canvas:
Hardie Henderson, Champion Base Ball Pitcher
- 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: Pioneer Portraits I: 1850-1874
- City: Washington, D.C.
- Team: Nationals
- League: National Association (NAPBBP)
Nicholas Ephraim Young (1840-1916) shepherded the National League from its inception in 1876 until the strains of dealing with the upstart AL caused his departure in 1902. Young was president from 1885-1902. Led the “Senior Circuit” during tumultuous years of job actions (the Players’ League), merger with the American Association in 1892, and the arrival of the competing American League.
- A former cricket player & government official, Young played amateur ball in Washington D.C.
- Organized the meeting that established the first pro league (Nat’l Assoc of Pro BB Players)
- His struggle to survive as NL leader against Al Spalding’s bid led to a compromise choice: Harry Pulliam
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