- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Denver
- Team: Grizzlies
- League: Western Association
James McQuaid (1861-1928) played baseball under the name Mortimer Martin “Mart” McQuaid. He was a right-handed, grizzled veteran of the minor league circuits from age 27 in 1888 until 1906 with Alameda in the California League. According to the Baseball Encyclopedia, Mart played for 31 teams including brief stints in the majors with St Louis and Washington. He also managed the Dubuque squad in 1896-7. Over 14 seasons, McQuaid had a .310 BA but was miserable afield, botching over one in ten chances. According to SABR’s Vern Luse, McQuaid was the brother of famed ML umpire Jack McQuaid. His cups of coffee in the AA with the Browns (4 games) and the NL’s Senators (one game in which he took the collar) were accidental interruptions for a lifelong laborer in America’s summer meadows, the diamonds-in-the-rough of Main Street USA.
- McQuaid’s Old Judge pose was for the Denver Grizzlies during his second year, but typical of his career: he hit .303 but “was the worst right fielder in the league, by a large margin” per the Goodwin editors
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Philadelphia
- Team: Quakers
- League: National League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Thomas Francis Michael McCarthy (1863-1922) failed as a pitcher, but established himself as a fast and intelligent outfielder and base runner over 13 professional seasons. While with the Boston Beaneaters from 1892-1895, he and Hugh Duffy were called the “Heavenly Twins” as they comprised one of the best outfield tandems of the era.
- Had a .292 lifetime average
- Although records are incomplete, he probably stole 500+ bases
- Introduced the Hit & Run play
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1946
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Omaha
- Team: Omahogs
- League: Western Association
John Atkinson Leighton (1861-1956) enjoyed a lengthy baseball career from 1887 through 1901, but his only major league stint was for the Syracuse Stars of the American Association in 1890. He played in seven games and batted .296 while playing the outfield. A long-lived Massachusetts native, Leighton was considered the oldest living player until his death, whereupon he was succeeded in that status by Dummy Hoy. Leighton was part of the Stars’ only ML season. He was a teammate of their top hitter, Cupid Childs and their ace Dan Casey on the mound.
- Leighton appeared in the Old Judge series as a CF for the Omaha Omahogs, but there is no reference to him on the team’s roster
- Leighton did play for Syracuse and Providence in the International League and Lewiston in the New England League
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Boston
- Team: Beaneaters
- League: National League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Michael Kelly (1857-1894) was one of the great stars of the 1880s. He inspired America’s first pop record (“Slide, Kelly, Slide!”) in 1889 with a 1927 movie to follow. The “Chicago Slide” was copied by his White Stockings teammates, a “combination slide, twist and dodge” that allowed the team to “get away with hundreds of stolen bases when really they should have been touched out easily” per the Tribune’s Hugh Fullerton in 1906. A catcher, right-fielder and manager over 16 years, he popularized the hit & run.
- A pioneer athlete in vaudeville, $10,000 Kelly also popularized autograph signing
- First major leaguer to publish his autobiography (1888)
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1945
- Although the Old Judge series features eleven known poses of Mike Kelly, I could not find one of suitable quality for this project. This image is taken from a cabinet photo produced by the Hastings Studio in Boston.
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Boston
- Team: Beaneaters
- League: National League
Richard Frederick Johnston (1863-1934) played OF, primarily for the Boston Beaneaters, over an 8-season career. He began with the Richmond Virginians of the AA and last played for King Kelly’s Cincinnati club in 1891. Johnston compiled a .255 lifetime BA with a high of .296 for Boston in ’88, when he led the NL in triples and extra-base hits.
- Led the NL in outfield put-outs in ’86 & ’87
- Turned nine OF double-plays, leading the league in 1887
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