Most Interesting Old Judge Players

[oldjudge]

I thought I'd start a thread where Old Judge collectors, and those not collecting the set but interested in baseball history, could choose one player from the Old Judge set with an interesting bio and discuss it here. Amongst the now 522 members of the set there is certainly no shortage of interesting characters.
For me, I'd like to start with Art Irwin. The following are some interesting tidbits from his life:

1. Born in Toronto, Canada in 1858
2. Teammate Charlie Ferguson died of typhoid fever in his house in 1888
3. After his playing days coached baseball at the University of Pennsylvania
4. Developed one of the first baseball gloves, the "Irwin glove", for protection after breaking two fingers on his left hand in a game.
5. President of the first American professional soccer league
6. On July 16, 1921, he jumped to his death from the vessel Calvin Austin on a trip between New York and Boston. Irwin was gravely ill at the time. After his death it was found that the player nicknamed Foxy had led a double life. He had two families, neither of which knew of the other. He had a widow in Boston, Elizabeth, with whom he had had three children, and a widow in New York, May, with whom he had one child.
7. Member of the Canadian Baseball HOF

[rhettyeakley]

Funny, I was reading Bob Lemke's blog just the other day and read a post w/ info I had never heard before about Harry Decker...
http://boblemke.blogspot.com/2009/11...r-convict.html

interesting stuff.

[oldjudge]

Rhett-I believe that there is additional information about Decker in Peter Morris's great book "Catcher".

[RCMcKenzie]

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Germany Smith committed seven intentional errors in 1885, during a game pitched by new pitcher Phenomenal Smith (who had given himself his own nickname before joining the team).

As the writer of the Goodwin auction catalog aptly put it, "An outstanding glove man with exceptional range...if he could have boosted his average to the standards of the day, Smith might be remembered as one of the finest to ever play".

[CW]

(while the card is from my collection, the majority of this info was ripped straight from Wiki)

Hardy Richardson played every position at some point, but was known for his play at second base with Buffalo when he was a member of the "Big Four," a star infield that consisted of Richardson and his teammates Dan Brouthers, Jack Rowe, and Deacon White.

Richardson's best season probably came in 1890 with the Boston Reds of the Players' League, when he had 181 hits in 555 turns at bat, a .326 batting average, while also compiling a career-high 13 home runs and 146 RBIs.

Richardson was involved in an unusual circumstance in a game against the Chicago White Stockings on August 13, 1884.

Chicago's George Gore singled to lead off the game, and Chicago manager Cap Anson instructed him to avoid the double play at all costs. Accordingly, when King Kelly followed with a ground ball, Gore tackled Richardson at second base before he could complete the relay throw. The umpire called both the batter and the runner out, and Anson protested the ruling so strenuously and stridently that the umpire forfeited the game to Buffalo.

This ruling was met with disapproval by the Chicago crowd of approximately 2,000, and after extensive discussions, the two teams agreed to resume a game which had been postponed earlier in the season, as a way of placating the dissatisfied fans.

In this second game, Anson decided to give his players a personal demonstration of the right way to break up the double play. He reached first base, and when the next batter hit a ground ball to Richardson, Anson shouted and waved his arms while running to second in an effort to interfere with Richardson's throw. Possibly flustered by this display, Richardson in turn struck Anson square in the head with his throw, which was delivered hard enough that it bounced all the way into the grandstands. A woozy Anson was forced to leave the game.

(adopted from Fleitz, David L. Cap Anson: the grand old man of baseball, McFarland, 2005, pp. 122-123.)

[oldjudge]

Great story Chuck!

[cdn_collector]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Rhett-I believe that there is additional information about Decker in Peter Morris's great book "Catcher".

I'm actually reading this book right now. It's an excellent so far. Anyone interested in how the catcher's position and the game in general evolved should pick it up. And though I'm not quite there yet, there is a chapter titled 'Harry Decker, the "Don Juan of Shaven Head"'.

Regards,

Richard.

[Bosox Blair]

Wally Andrews was a lousy hitter...except in 1887.

That year Wally put together an unbelievable dream-year at the plate and on the bases.

In 1887, with the minor league Memphis Browns, Andrews hit .422 with 218 hits, 143 runs scored, 28 home runs and 52 stolen bases in 111 games.

This astonishing performance was from the same player who hit .197 over parts of 2 seasons in the American Association.

[oldjudge]

Steroids?

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Steroids?

LOL - that was my thought too...olden-tyme steroydes !

Cheers,
Blair