Player #77A: Edward C. "Eddie" Foster. Third baseman with the Washington Senators in 1912-1919. 1,490 hits and 195 stolen bases in 13 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .329. He debuted with the New York Highlanders in 1910. His first season in Washington was one of his best as he posted a .345 OBP with 98 runs scored and 27 stolen bases in 682 plate appearances. His final season was with the St. Louis Browns in 1922-1923.
Foster's SABR biography on his debut season: Foster didn’t get into any games for Washington in 1911, but made the club in 1912, played in every one of the 154 games, and hit for an impressive .285. He had, however, been converted into a third baseman, where Washington had more of a need. In the first few weeks of the new season, he made his mark – particularly against the New Yorkers. “With his batting and fielding, no one person has helped to keep the Highlanders in last place more than third baseman Eddie Foster, of the Washingtons. And the Highlanders had him once, too.” Indeed, the Highlanders could have pulled him back from Rochester but had elected to sell his contract to Clark Griffith’s Washington club.
Foster drove in 70 runs, which remained his career best. His three-run inside-the-park home run on April 27 off New York’s Ray Caldwell came in the bottom of the sixth, neither team having scored, and was “a resounding Rooseveltian rap,” in the words of Sporting Life editor Paul W. Eaton. In his 13 years in the majors, Foster hit six home runs.
Near the end of the season, none other than American League president Ban Johnson in effect called Foster the rookie of the year: “It is a delicate thing for me to pick a player as the best youngster in the American League, but I feel that Foster deserves the distinction.” With a late-season boost, though, teammate Chick Gandil outpaced Foster.
Note: Rorschach's ghost appears on the back of this otherwise blank-backed card.
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