Old Judge Card : Alex McKinnon
 

Interesting Fact : On July 4, 1887 Alex McKinnon contracted typhoid pneumonia. He subsequently died in Charlestown, Massachusetts on July 24, 1887 at the age of 30.

McKinnon is the earliest confirmed deceased player/card from the historical 1887 Old Judge set.

I saw this neat card (below) available here at the 19th Century Cards & ALL Baseball Postcards- B/S/T section.

https://net54baseball.com/attachment...1&d=1664125863

He was hitting .340 in 1887 when he took ill. Possibly a future star whose career was cut short.

Gray Studio, in Boston, would photograph the Pittsburgh team in the spring of 1887 (Pitts inaugural season in NL, having jumped from the American Association). This pose of Alex McKinnon would become his Old Judge cigarette card pose 315-1. Alex would pass within 4 months of the photoshoot but not before posting some impressive numbers.

https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=34576

The Pittsburgh photos had to be taken in mid-May because that would be the first time they were all together in Boston. Their entire Spring Training was spent in Pittsburgh and Jim Handiboe was part of the team until May 13th. He missed out on having an Old Judge card by somewhere between 2-5 days. McKinnon passed just over two months later. Here's all four of his poses in scans I took at least six years ago, probably more though

Very weird. He looks like the picture of health in these photos. Another reason this forum is so amazing...

Interesting stuff. Thanks for posting guys.