- Series: Beginnings: 1870's
- City: Boston
- Team: Red Stockings (NAPBBP)
- League: National Association (NAPBBP)
Charles Roscoe Barnes (1850-1915) was the best player in the five year history of the fist professional baseball league, the National Association of Professional Baseball Players (NAPBBP), 1871-1875. Barnes is the all-time NAPBBP leader in runs, hits, doubles, walks, stolen bases, total bases, batting average, OBP and SLG%. He then dominated the National League in its inaugural year, 1876, leading the league hits, runs, average, OBP, SLG%, total bases, doubles, triples and walks. He also hit the 1st HR in National League history, for the Chicago White Stockings, 5.2.1876. Over the first six years of his major league career, Barnes' batting average was .397. An unidentified illness limited Barnes to just 22 games in 1877, and he was never the same player again, retiring shortly thereafter at the age of 31.
“Roscoe C. Barnes…was the greatest second baseman the game ever had…” - A History of the Boston Baseball Club, 1897.
"No matter how great you were once upon a time — the years go by, and men forget. Ross Barnes, forty years ago, was as great as Cobb or Wagner ever dared to be. Had scores been kept then as now, he would have seemed incomparably marvelous.” - W.A. Phelan, Baseball Magazine, 1915
- Because he played in the second game in MLB history, is credited with the 17 other players that day as the 27th player to debut in MLB
- 1st hitter to win batting titles in 2 leagues: NA in ’72-73 and NL in ‘76
- In 1918, made Cap Anson’s all-time team as the shortstop
- Barnes was selected as SABR’s ”Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend “ for 2013
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: St. Louis
- Team: Cardinals
- League: National League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Miller James Huggins (1879-1929) played 2B for the Reds and Cards (1904-16), then managed the Cards and Yankees during the latter’s dominant decade, winning 6 AL pennants and 3 World Series. Despite a low-key style, Huggins shook up the NY roster, drawing heavily from the Red Sox and even reined in the mighty Babe, laying the groundwork for Murderers’ Row.
- Presided over consecutive World Series sweeps in 1927 & 28
- Following Huggins’ untimely death at age 50, all AL games were canceled in tribute
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1964
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Washington, D.C.
- Team: Nationals
- League: National League
Samuel Newhall Crane (1854-1925) played second base for eight major league teams in three leagues from 1880-90. Sam lacked power (three career HRs, .203 average) despite a sturdy 6’, 190-lb frame. He was only a little more adept stealing bases (25 over the decade). Somehow, the practice of thievery on the bases carried over into Sam’s private life and his mediocre tenure in the big leagues ended ignominiously when he was accused of stealing a local merchant’s cash and wife. Such a checkered past was no hindrance to a longer career as a sportswriter. True to his tarnished image, Sam was mired in controversy as a scribe, getting himself barred from the Polo Grounds after attacking Giants’ owner Andrew Freedman in print. Whatever unpaid debts Crane left on the field or in the press box, he more than made up for by becoming an early and ardent promoter of creating a “memorial” to past stars of the game in Cooperstown, NY. His and others' efforts eventually led to the establishment of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1939.
- Crane’s ouster amid the “circus” atmosphere surrounding the Giants made him a brief cause celebre among journalists aghast that one of their own should be censored
- Crane's uniform color on this card was changed in February, 2017 from black to blue to reflect recent reliable research by Craig Brown & friends at Threads of Our Game. Two cards had been previously released featuring a black uniform.
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Philadelphia
- Team: Quakers
- League: National League
William Wilson Hallman (1867-1920) enjoyed a fine 14-year career, primarily as a second-baseman. He played mostly in Philadelphia and mostly as a Philly. His best years were 1892-97 where he hit .292, .307, .312, .314, .320, and .262. Versatility and durability were the Hallman hallmarks: he had the ability to help out at any position and played all nine including one game as a pitcher in 1896. Bill set two records a decade apart: leading the American Association in games played in 1891 and the National League in sacrifices in 1901. After ten years in the City of Brotherly Love, Bill found a little less love with the Browns, Bridegrooms and Blues where his average never got to .250. He returned for his final three years back with the Phils. For two years, 1901 and '03, there were two Bill Hallmans in the majors as his nephew, nine years his junior, played outfield in the new American League with Milwaukee and Chicago.
- Over his 14 years in the big leagues, Hallman averaged .272 with a .675 OPS
- Speaking of durability, Bill's baseball life was far from over when he left Philadelphia in '03. He went on to play for ten more clubs in various leagues, retiring at 42
- Hallman's uniform color in this card was changed from black 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.
- Series: Pioneer Portraits I: 1850-1874
- City: Lansingburgh
- Team: Union of Lansingburgh
- League: National Association (NABBP)
William Craver (1844-1901): disabled Civil War vet, policeman, and manager of his teams while still in his early 20s. Hardly the resume for a crook, yet in ’77 Craver was ousted from the NL in perhaps the biggest gambling scandal to rock the game in an already freebooting era.
- His case was hurt by an earlier expulsion for gambling in ‘71
- Always a strong hitter, had a .291 career batting average for 7 teams
- Craver’s Louisville Grays tanked in his fateful season including an 8 game losing streak
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