Dummy Hoy "true rookie card"?
 

I just got this 1888 WG1 of Dummy Hoy, and I am now wondering if this may be his first ever baseball card. To put it another way -- do we have any way of knowing whether his Old Judge cards were printed in 1888 vs 1889?

While PSA continues to label every OJ as 1887, I believe SGC generally gets them correct. I am not schooled enough [in OJs] to know if William Ellsworth Hoy had an 1887 issue but I'm sure others will chime in. I really need to get Jay's book :)

Attachment 563281

Most of the Washington players who were on the team in 1888 were photographed wearing a shirt with the W on the pocket, as seen on the Hoy cards. Players who only joined the team in 1889 were photographed wearing a shirt with the W in the middle, as seen on the Spider Clark and Hi Ebright cards. Hoy's cards were almost certainly produced in 1888. (Hoy did not play for Washington in 1887, and the uniforms were different that year from both the 1888 and 1889 uniforms.)

The image you shown is from a deck of cards and it has been cropped from a full size deck. The image is nice but the value may decrease since its not a full size deck of card.

Thanks both, this is helpful. It sounds like Hoy had multiple 1888 cards but zero 1887 cards. As to which 1888 card was produced first, this is probably not known and not knowable. Unless someone has some extremely detailed 135 year old release date info!

Dummy Hoy
 

I've got this card.

I guess that must be before SGC got more scientific with their dating on slabs. Hoy didn't join Washington until 1888 I believe.

Hoy was introduced to OJ set in 1888 on what is referred to as a type Fa card. Many Fa cards errantly show an 1887 copyright such as the provided examples in this thread. WG1 is also an 1888 card issue but suspect Fa OJs were first as they began issue before start of season and had some players assigned to incorrect teams based on preseason rumors . . . such as Hanlon with Boston.

Goodwin would re-issue Hoy in 1889 as a type Fc card (word "Factory" shows up at bottom of card),

Nice Hoy, Ben! 👍

Thanks again Joe for the info. Pretty interesting that Goodwin was so eager to print certain players that they just speculated on their team affiliations. I guess they didn't want to wait for their version of "Topps Traded"!