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Posted By: Julie

He was a severely handlicapped major leaguer, and a dandy ball player: hitter fielder and base stealer, at the same time. His was my first 19th century card, so I owe him one on that score, too.
He PROBABY was responsible for the initiation of hand signals in the game--without which modern baseball would be a total confusion. Any speculations
and reports that he was are enhanced by the certainly that Hoy DID teach American Sign Language to as many fellow players as he could, and married a schoolteacher for the deaf (both of them were completely deaf).
He provided me with a small opening into the deaf community by introducing--forget how--Steve Sandy of Ohio, who is a Hoy researcher, and deaf. It was to him that I gave away th second Old Judge Hoy ever I owned. Giving cards away is a real GAS! I remember the whole day so well: I was going to make him a xerox--as he had asked me to do, and then I stopped by the Coluseum to get some tickets with the card in my purse, and looked through the cracks in the fence at The Field. "A xerox? I thought. Why don't you stick the card in the envelope? He wants it more than you do!"

Hoy lived to be 99, bridging the gap between the 19th century and the modern era.

In Lipset's auction where I won my first (permanent )Hoy, I learned how NOT to bid--I must have bid 20 times on that card, untill Lew called me and said "Julie, stop bidding! You're inflating the price!"