- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Chicago
- Team: White Stockings
- League: National League
Charles Wellington Sprague (1864-1912) pitched for nine teams from 1887 through 1891, three of which were in the major leagues: the National League’s Chicago White Stockings and Cleveland Spiders, and the Toledo Maumees of the American Association. His other experience was primarily in the Western Association with Jamestown of the New York-Pennsylvania League being his final stop. With the big clubs, Sprague had a respectable 10-7 record during three seasons with a 4.51 ERA. The lefty played a little outfield when not on the mound. For Toledo, Charlie was the fourth starter with Egyptian Healy being the ace. The team finished fourth in 1890, the year so many stars bolted to their start-up “Players’ National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs” (aka the Players’ League or “Brotherhood.”)
- The Goodwin guide editors note that Charlie’s Old Judge images are unusual in depicting him in two different team uniforms in the same season: Chicago’s White Stockings and Maroons in 1888
- Series: 1880s: Spotted Ties
- City: New York
- Team: Metropolitans
- League: American Association
Albert C. Mays (1865-1905) began in professional ball as a pitcher with Oil City of the Iron and Steel Association in 1884. He signed the next season with Louisville of the American Association. As the third-string hurler, Mays went 6-11 for the Colonels. He had a decent ERA of 2.76 for a sixth-place team that struggled to score runs. Mays moved to New York and the Metropolitans in '86 but continued to lose many more than he won. It was so bad in '88 that the woeful Mets (not the last time the Big Apple would bind those two words) were 44-89 with Mays providing 17 of the wins and 34 of the losses. He hurled 441 innings with a 4.73 ERA. Al's 34 defeats were the league record that year as were the 232 earned runs allowed. Thereafter, staying exclusively in the AA, Mays played for the Brooklyn Bridegrooms late in 1888 where he got to contribute to a second-place finish with a 9-9 record. He finished up with the Columbus Solons where he clearly enjoyed better run-support as he was 10-7 in 1889 with a 4.82 ERA before ending his MLB tenure the following season with but one decision, a complete-game loss.
- Mays was the only native of little Dover, Ohio to play in the big leagues. Sadly, his life ended tragically in a drowning accident at age 39 in Parkersburg, West Virginia
Auction History
Cartophilia
Old Judge Pose: 299-1
- Series: 1880s: Spotted Ties
- City: New York
- Team: Metropolitans
- League: American Association
Edgar Leander Cushman (1852-1915) was a left-handed pitcher with a less-than-stellar career record of 62-80 despite a sub-4.00 ERA. He was at times brilliant, as witnessed by his performance in his second year in the majors. Cushman had gotten into a handful of games for the Buffalo Bisons in 1883 and returned to the “big leagues” at the end of the '84 season with the Union Association's Milwaukee Brewers, themselves a late-season replacement in the by then moribund league. Ed was dazzling. In the team's second UA game, he hurled the league's second (and final) no-hitter on September 28 against the Washington Nationals. In his next start Cushman nearly duplicated his feat, only surrendering a sole hit in the ninth inning of another shut-out against the Boston Reds. He caught the attention of American Association owners and was signed by the Philadelphia Athletics for '85. Ten starts later Cushman found himself moved north to the New York Metropolitans. Late in that campaign Ed struck out eight straight Alleghenys. The Mets named Cushman Pitcher of the Year for both the 1885 and '86 seasons. After returning to the minors in 1888, Ed got one last shot in the majors when Charlie Morton gained entry into the AA for his Toledo Maumees for their only major league season, 1890. Ed had moved out to Morton's Des Moines team in the Western Association and Morton kept him when he took over the Toledo franchise.
- Cushman's strongest year was 1886 for New York. He hurled 325 innings, going 17-21 with a fine 3.12 ERA
Auction History
Cartophilia
Old Judge Pose: 107-1
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: St. Louis
- Team: Browns (AA)
- League: American Association
James H. Devlin (1866-1900) was another of those Troy, NY (Lansingburgh) ballplayers to make an impact on the major leagues in the 19th century. The game was growing into a national pastime and Troy was at its center in the post-Civil War years when Devlin was born. He began with Syracuse of the International League in the spring of 1886, going 2-4 with a 1.05 ERA, which earned him a call-up to the NL's Giants that summer. He would continue to shuttle between major and minor league clubs for the next decade. His time in the big leagues included two more teams, the Philadelphia Quakers and the St. Louis Browns, then of the American Association. After the 1889 season in St. Louis, Devlin was out of baseball for a year before leading the Eastern League's Albany Senators with 26 wins in 40 decisions in '91. His MLB record was a mere 11-10, but he compiled a very respectable 3.38 ERA. Like so many before and since, Devlin fared much better in the minors. Jim would play in the Eastern and Pennsylvania Leagues through the mid-'90s and closed his professional career in the Canadian League, going 2-0 for London despite surrendering 14 runs. Every pitcher would pray for such support.
- All together Devlin won 106 games in the minors, including 21 with his hometown Troy Trojans
- Among many major leaguers to perish at too young an age, Devlin succumbed to typhoid fever at 34 back in Troy
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Pittsburgh
- Team: Alleghenys
- League: National League
James Harding Henderson (1862-1903) could have been nicknamed “Hard-Luck” Henderson instead of Hardie. He is one of only 34 pitchers of the 1870s and 1880s to achieve 200+ decisions. Unfortunately, most were losses (81-121 over his six-year major league career with four teams). Hardie came up with the NL’s Quakers in 1883 and was rudely treated in his debut by the Providence Grays and one Charles Radbourn. Old Hoss made Hardie one of the 48 notches on his belt that year, prepping for the glory of “59 in ‘84." Philadelphia soon shuffled Henderson off to Baltimore where he would achieve ignominy in a number of categories: most losses in ‘85 with 35; most walks in ‘84; most hits, walks and runs surrendered in ‘85; not to mention twice leading the league in wild pitches. Nevertheless, the guy won 81 games in a mere six seasons and compiled a lifetime 3.50 ERA, so the losses couldn’t have all been his fault.
- In a curious bit of morbid irony, the Library of Congress lists Hardie Henderson as a member of the Brooklyn Trolley-Dodgers - for his 1888 Kimball Campions (N184) card - when the team was actually known as the Grays. The borough of Brooklyn wouldn’t be known by that Manhattan put-down until 1895 - the year the team adopted the Trolley-Dodger nickname. Unfortunately for this man who has been posthumously misidentified as a trolley-dodger, Hardie perished under the wheels of a Philadelphia trolley while making his way home from work at a pool hall at the tender age of 40
- Henderson's uniform color in this card was changed from black & red to blue & red in March, 2017 to reflect recent reliable research conducted by Craig Brown and friends at Threads of Our Game. Two cards had been previously released featuring a black uniform.
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