Players whose cards should be a bigger deal than they seem to be

[Rascal1010]

Billy Williams

[z28jd]

In the Old Judge set, it always surprises me to see Charlie Ferguson go for barely more than common prices.

He died just after his 25th birthday as the 1888 season started, so the OJ cards are late in his life. Ferguson had four straight 21+ win seasons to begin his career (99-64 W/L record). In 1887, he started playing the field more often and hit .337 with 85 RBIs in 72 games, plus he had an above average fielding % at second base. He was a legit two-way star, who died at the start of his prime.

Ferguson was one of the first OJ cards I made sure to get when I started collecting from the set.

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by z28jd

In the Old Judge set, it always surprises me to see Charlie Ferguson go for barely more than common prices.

He died just after his 25th birthday as the 1888 season started, so the OJ cards are late in his life. Ferguson had four straight 21+ win seasons to begin his career (99-64 W/L record). In 1887, he started playing the field more often and hit .337 with 85 RBIs in 72 games, plus he had an above average fielding % at second base. He was a legit two-way star, who died at the start of his prime.

Ferguson was one of the first OJ cards I made sure to get when I started collecting from the set.

Amen to this. I’ve always thought that John Ward was tremendously undervalued. Not only was he a great pitcher who converted himself to a HOF shortstop after his arm went bad, he was one of the top five most influential people on 19th century baseball. In my mind, only Albert Spalding and Harry Wright were more influential.