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Billy Earle

Catcher
  • 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

Auction History

Dan Dugdale

Catcher
  • Series: Beginnings: 1880's
  • City: Chicago
  • Team: Maroons
  • League: Western Association

Daniel Edward Dugdale (1864-1934) had a brief exposure to major league baseball but carried the game’s torch to Seattle where he dominated the Pacific Northwest sports scene for 36 years until his sudden death crossing the street in front of a truck the night before his annual banquet celebrating the game. Big “Dug” had been a savvy catcher for the KC Cowboys and Washington Senators before migrating west seeking Klondike gold. He settled in Seattle where his devotion to baseball and his entrepreneurial instincts melded into a different kind of gold. He founded and managed teams, he built the first double-deck stadium on the coast, he was a warrior fending off the Pacific Coast League invaders from California. At last, he settled for being a legend in Rainier’s shadow, extolled at the banquet he missed as the Northwest’s “greatest individual figure in the national game.”

  • When he decided to stop being the backup to Deacon McGuire in D.C., Dug went home to Peoria and founded the Distillers in what was then the world’s spirits capital
  • Dugdale Park endured for decades until it perished two years before its owner, victim to a serial arsonist with an oil drum in the heart of the all-wood structure

Auction History

Harry Decker

Catcher
  • Series: Beginnings: 1880's
  • City: Philadelphia
  • Team: Quakers
  • League: National League

Earle Harry Decker (1864-?) was a catcher for six teams over four seasons in the majors. He came into pro ball at an opportune time for a young man. 1884 saw the arrival of the short-lived Union Association whose entry into the “big leagues” allowed many minor league and marginal players a chance at the elite level, if only briefly. Harry was nothing if not opportunistic. He was clever enough to patent a thumbless catcher’s mitt (“The Decker Safety Catcher’s Mitt”) and cunning enough to pursue a criminal career that landed him in San Quentin prison under the name Earl Henry Davenport. Harry led a long life of crime, using multiple aliases, which has prevented baseball historians from tracking his life after baseball. He did show up in a team photo of the San Quentin squad and a reporter recalled him from his Keokuk days as a good defensive catcher. A versatile fielder, Decker played most positions but was a weak hitter, resulting in short stints in the majors followed by return to the minors (five teams in the US and Canada.)

  • Harry’s most productive season was his last, with Pittsburgh, in 1890. He hit .274 in 92 games

Auction History

Tom Daly

Catcher
  • Series: Beginnings: 1880's
  • City: Chicago
  • Team: White Stockings
  • League: National League

Thomas Peter Daly (1866-1938) began his fine 16-year career as a catcher/second-baseman with the Chicago White Stockings in 1887 but was a mainstay with Brooklyn for 11 seasons, 1890-1901. Slightly-built and swift, “Tido” stole 385 bases, enabled by his .278 lifetime average that got him on base a lot for a catcher (he hit .294 in Brooklyn.) By the mid-nineties he had transitioned to the infield. Daly played for three pennant-winners in 1890, 1899 and 1900, all in Brooklyn. He is reported to have hit the first pinch-hit home-run in history on May 14, 1892 off John Clarkson. Tido was a “lifer” who stayed around the game in the minors as a player/manager and scout. He last played for the Johnstown Johnnies in 1907 and even managed for Toronto in 1932 at age 66.

  • In 1891 Daly caught Tom Lovett’s no-hitter against the Giants
  • Daly's uniform color in this card was changed from black to blue in March, 2017 to reflect recent reliable research conducted by Craig Brown and friends at Threads of Our Game. Four cards had been previously released featuring a black uniform.

Auction History

Con Daily

Catcher
  • Series: Beginnings: 1880's
  • City: Boston
  • Team: Beaneaters
  • League: National League

Cornelius F. Daily (1864-1928) was a veteran of 13 ML seasons as a reliable and beloved catcher for some of the most colorful teams of his day. He caught Old Hoss Radbourn with the Providence Grays and moved with his battery mate to the Beaneaters in 1886. Later, Con was a favorite of John Montgomery Ward, playing for Ward’s Wonders in Brooklyn in the short-lived Players’ League and accompanied Ward when the new NL Brooklyn franchise beckoned. The Brooklyn Eagle recounted numerous stories of Daily’s exploits that endeared him to the home folks. Club president Charles Byrne said of Con “He is quite an all around player, a hard batter and a fine base runner.” Indeed, Daily is still regarded as the fleetest of foot at his position in Dodger franchise history, having been credited with 94 career steals (albeit in a very different era than today).

  • In ’95 Daily survived a near-fatal accident diving into the surf at Sheepshead Bay. The local paper noted that he had saved a girl from drowning near the same spot only weeks earlier
  • Daily’s ML tenure ended in 1896 with a brief stint with Cap Anson’s Chicago club

Auction History