- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Louisville
- Team: Colonels
- League: American Association
Thomas H. Ramsey (1864-1906). Toad pitched for the Louisville Colonels and St. Louis Browns from 1885-1890. In his rookie season, Ramsey only managed 66 complete games out of 67 starts! His 499 strikeouts that year still stand as the second-most all-time. His career flamed out after two stellar seasons, but Toad Ramsey left records that seem unthinkable today.
- Credited with inventing the knuckleball thanks to a severed tendon in his left index finger
- Died at age 41 of pneumonia in his hometown of Indianapolis
- Ramsey’s uniform color on this card was changed in February, 2017 from black to maroon to reflect recent reliable research by Craig Brown & friends at Threads of Our Game. Nine cards had been previously released featuring a black uniform.
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Boston
- Team: Beaneaters
- League: National League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Charles Gardner Radbourn (1854-1897). An elite pitcher for 5 teams over 12 seasons, Radbourn owns the single-season Wins record with either 59 or 60 (sources vary) in 1884 – the year in which he became baseball’s 2nd triple Crown winner with 441 Ks & a 1.38 ERA. In 1884, Radbourn started 40 of his team’s last 43 games and won 36 of them. In the 1884 World Series, Radbourn started and won all three games, giving up only 3 runs. Including the postseason, Old Hoss won 62-63 games in 1884 and threw over 700 innings.
- NL Triple Crown: 1884
- NL Wins champ: 1883, 1884
- 309 career Wins
- Pitched no-hitter: 1883
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1939
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Washington, D.C.
- Team: Nationals
- League: National League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
“The Reverend” (1859-1935). O’Day was a pitcher & occasional position player over 7 ML seasons for 5 teams. Hank then umpired for 30 years, interrupting his tenure twice: to manage the Cincinnati Reds in 1912 and the Chicago Cubs in 1914.
- Member of ’89 Champion Giants
- Umpired 10 World Series
- Officiated Merkle’s Boner
- Called 4 no-hitters in 4 decades
- Only person to play, manage & umpire in NL
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 2013
- O'Day’s uniform color on this card was changed in August, 2017 from black to blue to reflect recent reliable research by Craig Brown & friends at Threads of Our Game. Nine cards were previously released featuring a black uniform.
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Cleveland
- Team: Spiders
- League: National League
John F. O’Brien (1867-1892) pitched four seasons in the majors, changing leagues every year. He played in the AA, the NL, & the Players’ League – all for Cleveland teams, and moved to the Boston Reds in the AA for the 1891 season, his last due to his untimely death from pneumonia the next year.
- Had signed with Cincinnati to play in ’92 but passed away at his home in Troy, NY
- Was 18-13 for the pennant-winning Boston club in ‘91
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Omaha
- Team: Omahogs
- League: Western Association
Charles Augustus Nichols (1869-1953). A right-handed, switch-hitting pitcher, Nichols played 15 major league seasons for 3 different clubs. Nichols had 11 seasons with 20 Wins or more, 10 consecutively, 7 of which exceeded 30. He quit MLB for 2 years to own & pitch for a minor league team, with whom he won another 48 games.
- Youngest to 300 Wins (30 years)
- 5x NL pennant winner
- His 361 Wins ranks 7th all-time
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1949
- Although the Old Judge series features five known poses of Kid Nichols, I could not find one of suitable quality for this project. This image is taken from a cabinet photo produced by the Elmer Chickering Studio in Boston.
- Update: This card was retired in August of 2017 as I was finally able to find a suitable original Old Judge image of Kid Nichols. I have replaced this card with a new one that you can find here
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