N172 “No Name” Cards

[Joe_G.]

A post for the Old Judge junkies.

This topic has been discussed before, but always ending without consensus on who, beyond Con Daley (Dailey), can be found without a name. Previously, the no name Daley had been referred to as “Anonymous”, but SGC & I agreed to have the attached copy slabed as “Con Daley (Name Missing)” since it really isn’t anonymous. I have been watching for a copy of this card for years and was happy to obtain the attached example together with a corrected, albeit hard to read, variant. Both date to 1888 (Fb cards). I also included an 1887 (Gypsy Queen – Boston on Jersey) and 1889 example that shows how the image transformed over time due to team change (I do not own these cards). Con Daley has other poses that were also issued in 1887, 1888, and 1889 but in all cases, that I’ve seen, the name is present.

Back to the original question, who, beyond Con Daley, can be found without a name? There are a couple dozen 1889 cards (Fc) in which the name was written in script on the negative in large enough letters that it can be clearly read on the N172 card and therefore no block text name panel was provided. Examples of this include Bennett, Brynan, and Dolan (posted below). I suspect that these cards (1889 script) are sometimes considered “no name” because the script lettering is sometimes more difficult to make out than the more legible and common block text panel. Can anyone provide a copy of an Old Judge card that they believe is missing the player’s name (besides Con Daley)? Also feel free to post 1889 script cards in which the name is present but perhaps difficult to read.

I believe that the only “no name” Old Judge is that of Con Daley with his "no name" variation only found on some of his 1888 (Fb) cards of pose 112-3 (throw, R/hand head high). Prove me wrong.