Western Association Old Judges

[oldjudge]

Kevin-You know N173s really well. Have you ever seen a Whites cabinet before?

[Baseball Rarities]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Kevin-You know N173s really well. Have you ever seen a Whites cabinet before?

No, not until the brown mount Hines in REA.

[Joe_G.]

Nice cards Kevin!, the 1888 Minneapolis cards are a bit easier to collect than the other 1888 Western Association teams with most of the players/poses being Fa cards.

Regarding Western Association cabinets, we do know that in general the 1889 cabinets are more common than 1888 which would suggest the most difficult WA teams would be Chicago Maroons, Kansas City Blues, and St. Louis Whites (these three would not make it to 1889). Of these three teams, St. Louis Whites was the first to disband (June 20th of 1888) which likely led to extremely few cabinets being ordered. The new for 1889 teams (Sioux City, Denver, & St Joseph) may follow with the teams that played both years being more likely to surface.

I just caught your last comment on the Nicholson . . . the Nicholson I used as an Fb example might be from your collection (or Burdick, LOC, etc.). That Fa/Fb/Fc composite is from ten years ago when we were gathering lots of images for the book. I will re-create Fa vs Fb vs Fc from my collection (all Detroit)

[oldjudge]

There is another reason for the rarity of Whites' cabinets. The Whites were set up as a farm team for the hometown Browns, with Von der Ahe owning both teams. The Browns were the power of the American Association and the Whites were a weak squad. Von der Ahe saw the folly of his idea and quickly folded the team. If you were a baseball fan in St Louis in 1888, you most probably were a Browns fan. It is hard to conceive that a St Louis native who had saved up coupons to get an Old Judge cabinet would not choose a player from the champion Browns.
Interestingly, the one year teams from the 1888 Western Association all were in cities where the competed with an American Association or National League team. The Western Association learned from the 1888 experience; the new 1889 teams were their city's sole representative in the big leagues.

[oldjudge]

Kevin--Which team is next? Amazing collection!
Whoever won the big Old Judge lot in REA should have some to post (or future winners in Sterling).

[z28jd]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Kevin--Which team is next? Amazing collection

I agree, amazing stuff Kevin, that's why you're Mr. NJ-OJ. Why didn't you include your Jordan card in with the Minneapolis group, or was it posted earlier and I missed it?

[oldjudge]

Hi John! Being Mr NJ-OJ is no small deal. He has to compete with you half the year. BTW, is Jordan wearing catcher's gear or a hasmat suit?