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Jack Manning

First Base
  • Series: Pioneer Portraits I: 1850-1874
  • City: Boston
  • Team: Red Stockings (NAPBBP)
  • League: National Association (NAPBBP)

John E. Manning (1853-1929) must have longed for his glory days on the mound in Boston while he played his last ML season in Baltimore in 1886. He achieved the dubious honor of being the best of the worst, leading or nearly leading the Orioles in most hitting categories during the most miserable offensive year of any team in baseball history. Manning had a fine career by that finale. He had helped the Red Caps to pennants in 1873, ’75 and ’78, hitting .266 in his rookie year and compiling a 35-7 record in the latter two championship years. Sadly, the versatile veteran went out on a sour note on the “Worst Hitting Team Ever.” The team’s BA was a lowly .204, plumbing depths of ineptitude that would never be exceeded by another franchise playing a full season.

  • The modern MLB record for low BA was set by the Chicago White Stockings in 1910 (.210)
  • On Oct 9, 1884 Manning became the 3rd player to hit 3 HRs in a game for the Quakers

Auction History

Charlie Gould

First Base
  • Series: Pioneer Portraits I: 1850-1874
  • City: Cincinnati
  • Team: Red Stockings (NABBP)
  • League: National Association (NABBP)

Charles Harvey Gould (1847-1917) played for the 1st professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, who reigned supreme for 2 yrs, winning 84 straight games and barnstorming the country from 1869-1870. Disbanded in ’71, Gould followed Harry Wright to Boston where he inaugurated baseball there and won its 1st title in 1872.

  • His fielding prowess earned him the nickname “the bushel-basket”
  • Ironically, Gould’s errant throw to 2nd ended his Red Stockings’ duel with the Brooklyn Atlantics, and with it the longest winning streak in baseball history on June 14, 1870
  • Was Cincinnati Reds’ first manager: 1876

Auction History

John Goldie

First Base
  • Series: Pioneer Portraits I: 1850-1874
  • City: South Bronx
  • Team: Union of Morrisania
  • League: National Association (NABBP)

John Goldie (c1836-1871) played 1st base for the NY Mutuals beginning in 1862 and later for the Union Club of Morrisania (the Bronx.) He suffered from TB most of his adult life and blamed his work as type-setter. He credited his outdoor play for prolonging his life.

  • With Goldie at 1st, Morrisania beat the Atlantics 14-13 for the 1867 NABBP title
  • The Union’s star had four hits in a titanic struggle with the Cincinnati Red Stockings who won13-12 on Sep 4, 1869 as the new professionals began to supplant their amateur forebears
  • Goldie succumbed to tuberculosis at age 35 in NYC

Auction History