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Julie Vognarthe rest of his deaf friends were), which I will send scans of if you like; He's in the WG1 series, while he was playing, and the Cameo Pepsin pin which Rhett Yeakley has (1895). He played major leage ball from 1887--1903, and lived to be 99 years old. He married a deaf-mute, who was a school teacher. He taught a lot of his teammates to use American Sign Language, and the debate rages hot and heavy whether HE HIMSELF introdued the signs for "ball" and "strike" to the umpire--obviously, sign language on the baseball diamond caught on. He batted .288 lifetime, and stole a lot of bases. He played center field, and could call the left and right fielders off the ball by making his "noise." I say, if it WAS him who introduced the signs to the umpire, he belongs in the Hall; otherwise, close, but no cigar.
Dummy Taylor pitched for the Giants from 1901-1909, and Curtis Pride is still playing ball. Those are the only three deaf-mutes who have cards (there have been others in the Majors,. but not for long).
I know it's hard to imagine WANTING to be called "Dummy,"
but, apparently, he always said "Call me "Dummy" when someone called him Bill. In fact , there's a play called "Call me Dummy."
The writing on the back is by Buck Barker, which would in most auctions have made the card cheaper, but in Lew Lipset's, more expensive. Barker was a great collector who used the back of blank-backed cards to store information about the player pictured on the front.