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Posted By: Jay

The first Old Judge photographic cards were the unnumbered script cards. This series was not solely a baseball series. It also, for example, contained many boxers. The spotted ties, cards of 16 players of the New York Mets were part of this issue. Now, Goodwin was excellent at keeping tabs of team changes so I believe that any players who had spotted tie cards were on the Mets at the time of printing which I would assume was very close to the time of issue. Dude Esterbrook was purchased from the Giants by the Mets on October 20, 1886. If these cards were issued in 1887 he would have had a spotted tie. Also, Charlie Reipschlager was purchased by Cleveland from the Mets on December 16, 1886 but he does have a spotted tie. If these cards were printed in 1887 I believe that this card would have been pulled. The dates of these two player's moves provides compelling evidence that the spotted ties, and thus the first Old Judge photographic cards, were issued prior to 1887.