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Brian H (misunderestimated)I was just looking up the subject of a 1904 American League Fan Craze* card I was selling -- one "BILLY OWEN" of the Boston Red Sox -- to see who he was and if there was anything interesting I could write about him in my item description (even though I seriously doubt the biographical info really helps sell anything -- I enjoy writing it when I have time).
So, I decided to look up the legendary "Billy Owen" on Baseballreference.com. Guess what ? No "Billy Owen" or "William Owen" EVER played major league ball. Based on my research on Baseballreference.com the closest I could come was one "Frank Walter Owens" who played one game for the Red Sox in '05 at age 19 and didn't resurface in the majors again until 1909 with the White Sox. Assuming this is true its quite odd that Fan Carze decided to include this virtual "Moonlight Graham" in the set. After his one game in 1905 Owen was hitting .000 (0 for 3 -- bad even by deadball standards).
If anyone has a better guess who this "Billy Owen" might be please let me know, I'm curious.
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* - Yes, I know based on other players' team designations that the AL set was almost certainly issued in 1906 -- like its NL counterpart (special thanks to Hal Lewis).