- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Des Moines
- Team: Prohibitionists
- League: Western Association
James Wear Holliday (1867-1910) had a knack for beginnings. He began in big league baseball at its pinnacle: game five of the 1885 post-season series. He wouldn’t play in a regular-season game until 1889, but again reached an apex by leading the league in home runs as a rookie. Bug’s sophomore season began with another bang: an opening game HR. Holliday played exclusively for Cincinnati and during his six prime years was second only to Roger Connor in home runs. His peak productivity came in 1894 when he hit .372, scoring and driving in 119 runs. Thereafter, health took a sad toll. Following an appendectomy in ‘95 Bug was never the same and his life ended too early due to a fatal infection.
- At 5’11” “Bug” was not tiny, but he struck some as such way out in center field and got the nickname
- His unlikely debut came about when Cap Anson was desperate for a right-fielder in the St. Louis Series. Young Bug fared poorly and headed to the minors for seasoning.
- Holliday’s uniform color on this card was changed in June, 2017 from black to blue to reflect recent reliable research by Craig Brown & friends at Threads of Our Game. Six cards were previously released featuring a black uniform.
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Kansas City
- Team: Blues (WA)
- League: Western Association
Joseph Brook Gunson (1863-1942) was a pioneer catcher in baseball’s early days. Three years before his death, Gunson donated his original mitt to the new Hall of Fame. During his life and since, historians have been as split over who deserves the honor of inventing the catcher’s glove as were the fingers of Gunson and his fellow backstop on the Western League KC Blues. Those torn hands prompted Gunson to contrive some protection. Doc Bushong or Harry Decker may have beaten Joe to the draw, but there can be no argument that this stalwart receiver was a key contributor to the game he loved. Gunson debuted with the lowly Washington club of the upstart Union Association in 1884, then knocked around the minors until catching on with the Browns, Spiders, Orioles and Cowboys during a four-year ML stint.
- Gunson’s stats are unimpressive: a .211 BA, with little power. Yet, like so many early players, he made his mark on the fledgling sport with grit and creativity which laid a foundation for all who were to follow
- The Sporting Life compared Gunson’s hands with their “knots and gnarls” to famed Chicagoan Sylvester “Silver” Flint’s “battered paws.” Such was the catcher’s lot in the 19th century….
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: St. Joseph
- Team: Clay Eaters
- League: Western Association
William Fry was the subject of an Old Judge series while with the 1889 St Joseph Clay Eaters. He never played in the major leagues and his minor league record is sketchy. Fry’s best-documented season was 1887 with the Zanesville Kickapoos of the Ohio State League. Will scored the most runs that year (104) and had the team’s second-highest total of hits with 141. He began in pro-ball in 1883 in the Pittsburgh area with the Liberty Stars of the Western Interstate League (eight Pennsylvania clubs plus Youngstown.) The following year found him still in the Steel City with East Liberty of the Iron and Oil Association. We have no data for 1885. Will moved west to the St Joseph Reds of the Western League in ’86 before joining the Kickapoos for two seasons. He returned to Missouri for his final year, when Old Judge caught up to him, this time with the Clay Eaters. He only managed a .187 average in 150 at-bats.
- Baseball Reference records Fry’s surname as Frey while the Goodwin catalog editors indicate an alternate spelling of Frye. We use the name that appeared on the OJ cards
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Omaha
- Team: Omahogs
- League: Western Association
John A. Flynn (1864-1907) played one major league season, in 1886 at the age of 22 for the Chicago White Stockings. He had a great year, with a 23-6 record and a 2.24 ERA. Flynn’s performance helped Chicago to its second straight NL pennant, but the team lost the series to the St Louis Browns with Flynn out of action with a sore arm and fondness for liquor.
- Holds record for most wins by a pitcher who only played one season (23)
- Al Spalding had tried to police his players’ “intemperate” habits all season and the NL even hired Pinkertons in every league city. Sadly, Flynn’s arm gave in as he gave way to alcoholism after one brilliant year.
- An attempted comeback with Omaha ended quickly; he was out of the game by age 25
- Flynn died at 42, eulogized by his hometown paper as “a wholesouled, generous fellow” with a “host of friends and admirers.”
- Although the Old Judge series features two known poses of Jocko Flynn, I could not find one of suitable quality for this project. This image is taken from an Old Judge proof taken at the same time as Flynn's other OJ images and may represent an as-of-yet undiscovered pose.
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: St. Paul
- Team: Apostles
- League: Western Association
William Moffat Earle (1867-1946) earned an outsized reputation in the game for a part-time catcher who never played more than 53 games in any of his 5 ML seasons. Long after his career ended, Bill Stern was spinning tales of how Billy was a victim of the superstitions of his day, pilloried for an “evil eye” that “creeped-out” his teammates. He began at the top of the profession, touring the world & photographed at the Great Pyramid with Al Spalding’s troupe, earning the moniker the Little Globetrotter. He was a good hitter and was lauded for his great potential during the 1889 world exhibition. That potential was never truly realized though, partly perhaps affected by Billy’s infatuation with the spirit world and hypnotism. His temperament was as erratic as his ML tenure, where he chronically jumped teams and fought over contracts.
- Had he played more, a lifetime career .286 BA certainly would have earned Earle a place on the catchers’ honor roll
- The “blacklist” insinuations are belied by Billy’s long minor league tenure and in Cuba, as player and manager
- Earle's uniform color in this card was changed from black to blue in August, 2017 to reflect recent reliable research conducted by Craig Brown and friends at Threads of Our Game. Seven cards were previously released featuring a black uniform
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