- Series: 1880s: Loving Paupers
- City: Indianapolis
- Team: Hoosiers (NL)
- League: National League
Leven Lawrence Shreve (1869-1942) had a spotty experience in the major leagues beginning with the Baltimore Orioles in 1887, moving to the Indianapolis Hoosiers that year and staying there until 1889. His total pitching record was 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA. Shreve was a slight 150 lb right-hander. He had played for two minor-league clubs in ‘86: Savannah and Chattanooga in the Southern Association where he was a combined 12-9. He was said to have played for some midwestern teams that year but no data survives, so he may not have made the squads. Following the Hoosiers, Lev did get to play briefly in the Twin Cities and ended his stint in pro ball with the Rochester Hop Bitters of the Eastern Association in 1891.
- Shreve mustered only four hits with the Orioles, but got three of them during his debut. Despite being shelled, his bat helped him win 15-9
Auction History
Cartophilia
Old Judge Pose: 418-5
- Series: 1880s: Loving Paupers
- City: Chicago
- Team: White Stockings
- League: National League
Joseph Andrews Sommers (1866-1908) was a catcher in the days when the position exacted a heavy toll on its players. Perhaps this accounts for why Pete could last four seasons in the majors despite having no discernible skills in the batter’s box. He hit .181 his rookie year in the lesser circuit of the day, the American Association. He debuted with the New York Metropolitans, a struggling club under Dave Orr’s direction in 1887. Sommers got into a mere 33 games, but did contribute a dozen RBI. The following year Pete moved to the National League where he would remain during his major league tenure with Boston’s Beaneaters, the Chicago White Stockings, Indianapolis Hoosiers, New York Giants and Cleveland Spiders. He split the ‘89 season between Chicago and Indianapolis and was in NY and Cleveland for his final turn in 1890. Overall Sommers managed to hit a combined .198 in these four years. Nevertheless, the risks of being the backstop in the days before modern protective gear were such that a high batting average was hardly necessary to fill in at catcher and Sommers got to be part of some of the noteworthy teams of the decade. His MLB experience was less than half of Pete’s pro career. He had started out with Cleveland’s Forest Cities in the Western League in 1885 and saw limited service as late as 1896 with the Quincy, IL Ravens.
- In ‘92 Pete was a regular with the Terre Haute Hottentots (a simpler time!) of the Illinois-Iowa League where he hit .250
- During his season in the Big Apple, Sommers proved to be a sturdy oak behind the plate. News reports described a collision with Orr that left the player/manager out cold and missing two teeth. Apparently, Sommers and first-baseman Orr were trying for the same pop-up. Unknown if Pete held onto the ball
Auction History
Cartophilia
Old Judge Pose: 430-4
- Series: 1880s: Loving Paupers
- City: Washington, D.C.
- Team: Nationals
- League: National League
Peter Jay Sweeney (1863-1901) played infield and outfield on the west coast beginning at the tender age of 15 with two San Francisco clubs. He moved across the bay to Oakland in 1881, then came back to Baghdad by the Bay with the SF Haverlys in 1884-85. At age 24, Pete got his big chance, joining the Washington Nationals in '88. He returned to D.C. the following season and was moved to the St. Louis Browns later in '89. They demoted him briefly to the St. Paul Apostles, but brought Sweeney back in 1890 before trading him to the Philadelphia Athletics who sent him later the same season to the Louisville Colonels. His major league tenure ended in Louisville with Pete seeing action for four clubs in a mere three years. He was far from finished with baseball, however. Sweeney had a coast-to-coast season in 1891, playing back home for Oakland and finishing the year with the Rochester Hop Bitters in the Eastern Association. Thereafter, this wanderer would roam from California League teams to the east coast and even a season with the Nashville Tigers of the Southern League. Having begun in 1879, this lifer didn't hang 'em up until concluding the 1897 campaign with the Sunbury Pirates of the Central Pennsylvania League. There was a reason he spent most of his time in the minors: he couldn't hit big league pitching. Pete's average for his four MLB clubs was a paltry .209. Yet, he could thrive in the lower levels of the game. When he left the big leagues for Rochester, Sweeney led the Eastern Association in home runs.
- Not a lot of native Californians got to play in the majors in the nineteenth century, but while playing for the San Francisco Knickerbockers in 1879, Sweeney did play alongside one early luminary: The Only Nolan. A pitcher, perhaps from Canada, Edward Nolan sported one of the great appellations in the game
- Only one teammate from the Haverlys made it to the majors: John Smith. He had a cup of coffee in 1882 with the Troy Trojans and Worcester Ruby Legs, then of the National League
Auction History
Cartophilia
Old Judge Pose: 451-1
- Series: 1880s: Loving Paupers
- City: Baltimore
- Team: Orioles
- League: American Association
Thomas Joseph Tucker (1863-1935) played first base for six MLB teams from 1887 through the 1899 season. He learned the game in and around his native Holyoke, Massachusetts, coming up in the era when gloves were small to nonexistent. At age 20 he signed on with his local minor league club and stayed in New England until the American Association’s Baltimore Orioles gave him his shot in the big leagues. He was a regular immediately and stayed three years, during which Tommy batted .275 and .287 before finishing with a spectacular .372 in 1889. That led to a job with the Beaneaters in Boston where he proved a worthy successor to famed Dan Brouthers. In his seven full seasons in Boston, Tucker never again attained such a lofty average, but he was a consistently good solid hitter, exceeding .300 three times. In ‘97, the Senators purchased Tucker from the Beaneaters for $2,000 and he rewarded the club with a .338 average in his lone season in the Capital City. He split the ‘98 campaign between Brooklyn and St. Louis before closing out his career in the majors with the Cleveland Spiders. Despite tailing off at the plate after leaving Washington, the switch-hitting righty compiled a very fine .290 average overall.
Tucker was known as a tough & rowdy competitor, earning him colorful nicknames such as Noisy and Foghorn Tom.
- Tucker’s career-year in 1889 was remarkable for at least two reasons: He led the league that season and his .372 average still stands as the highest ever achieved by a switch-hitter
- Tommy tied a major league record on July 22, 1893 with four doubles and also had a perfect 6-for-6 game in 1897
- Tommy was hit-by-pitch more often than all but two players. Only Hughie Jennings and Craig Biggio exceeded his 272 career plunks
- After retiring from the majors, Tucker returned to New England and played for three minor league clubs through the 1902 season
- Bill James ranked Tucker as the 93rd greatest 1st baseman of all-time in 2001; Jay Jaffe's JAWS system ranks him today as the 108th best all-time (betwixt Ripper Collins and Charlie Hickman)
Auction History
Cartophilia
Old Judge Pose: 465-1
- Series: 1880s: Loving Paupers
- City: St. Paul
- Team: Apostles
- League: Western Association
William H. Tuckerman (1866-1904) pitched for five seasons in the minors beginning in 1886 with Brockton of the New England League, close to his Connecticut roots. On July 16 of his rookie year, young Tuckerman hurled a no-hitter against the Boston Blues. He moved west to Minnesota and Wisconsin before landing with the Apostles of St. Paul for the 1888-’89 seasons. William had an outstanding campaign in ‘88. His 17-12 record belied an outstanding 1.74 ERA, sixth in the Western Association. Unfortunately, Tuckerman lost that command. In 1889, still with St. Paul, he saw his ERA rise to 3.49 with a 14-13 record. He did not play in ‘90 but re-emerged back home with the Providence Clamdiggers of the Eastern Association in ‘91. He won three and lost one with a fine 2.15 ERA before leaving pro ball..
- Tuckerman was captured by the Old Judge photographer in his Apostles uniform in 1889. The five images show him in a right-handed pitching motion. Curiously, William is called A. M. Tuckerman in all the offered examples of those cards. Baseball Reference has him as William H. Tuckerman and we cannot account for the mix-up other than attributing it to the rough-and-tumble touring the Old Judge men did, trying to memorialize as many players of the day as they could.
- 1889 was a milestone of a much different order for Tuckerman than being caught by the Old Judge camera. He married Evelyn Walsworth on April 18 back in Rhode Island in Westerly, the town he died in at an early age in 1904
Auction History
Cartophilia
Old Judge Pose: 466-2
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