Hypothetical Old Judge cards

[prewinter]

Des Moines

Hypotheticals:
Ed Cushman and Frank Wells - Both players have cards with later teams that look like they are in Des Moines uniforms.
Guerdon Whitely (or Whiteley?) - He played with Des Moines in 1887, and was signed to come back for 1888 until the club signed Shafer. He signed with Hutchinson around April 12, so most likely Old Judge never released a card for him


Player 1-Mar Card # Old Judge Club Cabinet Notes First Game Last Game
Billy Alvord X 6 Des Moines X April 28, 1888
Ed Cushman X 107 X May 2, 1888
Bug Holliday X 231 Des Moines X April 28, 1888
Ted Kennedy X 259 Des Moines X May 10, 1888
Jimmy Macullar X 287 Des Moines X April 28, 1888
Joe Quinn X 376 Des Moines X April 28, 1888
Harry Sage X 397 Des Moines X April 28, 1888
Luke Schildknecht 402 Des Moines X Signed April 18; released to Sioux City late June June 1, 1888 June 1, 1888
George Shafer 409 Des Moines X April 28, 1888
Fred Smith X 424 Des Moines X May 4, 1888
Dan Stearns X 436 Des Moines X April 28, 1888
Ed Swartwood 449 Des Moines X Reports between March 23 and March 31
Bill Traffley X 462 Des Moines X May 2, 1888
Bill Van Dyke X 470 Des Moines X April 28, 1888
Frank Wells X 488 X April 28, 1888 June 13, 1888
Guerdon Whiteley X Signed by Hutchinson April 12

[prewinter]

Kansas City

Hypothetical:
J.B. Freeman was a "phenomenon" from Missouri who signed with Kansas City for the 1888 season. He was cut on May 3, which means he should have been around when the team shoot was occurring. He got a card the following year in the 1889 set, pictured with the Browns (whom he was with in ST) but identified with Milwaukee (to whom he was sold before the season started).

Player 1-Mar Card # Old Judge Club Cabinet Notes First Game Last Game
Joe Ardner X 12 Kansas City (WA) X May 1, 1888
Michael Bradley X 37 Kansas City (WA) X May 1, 1888
Count Campau X 62 Kansas City (WA) X May 1, 1888 June 28, 1888
Ed Cartwright X 70 Kansas City (WA) X May 1, 1888
Jim Conway X 91 Kansas City (WA) X May 5, 1888
J.B. Freeman X 171 Released May 3
Joe Gunson X 205 Kansas City (WA) X May 5, 1888
Bill Hassamaer X 216 Kansas City (WA) X May 1, 1888
Ralph (Spud) Johnson X 247 Kansas City (WA) X May 1, 1888
Jim Manning X 292 Kansas City (WA) X May 1, 1888
John McCarty X 302 Kansas City (WA) X May 1, 1888
Charlie Reynolds X 383 Kansas City (WA) X May 2, 1888
Park Swartzel X 450 Kansas City (WA) X May 2, 1888
Jake Wells X 487 Kansas City (WA) X May 1, 1888

[prewinter]

Milwaukee:

Hypotheticals:
Alex Ferson jumps out. He was identified with Milwaukee as early as January 8, and he was with the club through the spring. He was released relatively early (May 16), so maybe that is why there is no (known) card of him.
John Quincy Adams Struck was another pitcher with the club all through spring. He shows up on the Cabinet Checklist.
Hart on the Cabinet Checklist is probably Jim Hart, the manager.
And looking at the Old Judge Book, I'm not sure who they think "Keas" is. I haven't found anyone by that name associated with the club.


Player 1-Mar Card # Old Judge Club Cabinet Notes First Game Last Game
Andy Cusick X 108 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
David Davin X 118.5 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888 June 7, 1888
Alex Ferson X 158 Signed before January 8; released May 16 May 2, 1888 May 15, 1888
Tom Forster X 167 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
Billy Fuller X 173 Milwaukee X May 2, 1888
Jack Horner X 234 Milwaukee X May 1, 1888
Bobby Lowe X 281 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
Leech Maskrey X 295 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
Lynn Mills X 326 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
Pat Pettee X 365 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
William Shenkel X 401 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
Ben Stephens 438 Milwaukee X Signed May 16 May 22, 1888
Joe Strauss X 442 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
Edward Warner X 479 Milwaukee X May 1, 1888
John Q A Struck X X May 24, 1888 June 10, 1888
Jim Hart (Manager) X X Manager

[prewinter]

Minneapolis

Hypotheticals:
Cal Broughton was signed in May, but has a card in the set with St. Paul (for whom he played after August 16, and then in 1889), and he shows up as a Cabinet option.
Joe Walsh joined the club before Broughton, and he has a card from his time with Omaha prior to going to Minneapolis. Is it weird that they added players after that point but did not change the team for him?
Michael Lynch was released very early in the spring.
Podge Weihe was signed right as Shaw was released. He didn't last long, so maybe Old Judge never bothered to put him on a card.


Player 1-Mar Card # Old Judge Club Cabinet Notes First Game Last Game
Timothy Brosnan X 41 Minneapolis X April 30, 1888
Cal Broughton 42 X Joined club on May 19 May 19, 1888
Frank Graves X 197 Minneapolis X April 30, 1888 May 15, 1888
Bill Hawes X 237 Minneapolis X April 30, 1888
Fred Jevne X 246 Minneapolis X April 30, 1888
W.F. Jordon X 249 Minneapolis X Released May 2
Gus Klopf X 264 Minneapolis X May 1, 1888
Bill Krieg X 269 Minneapolis X May 1, 1888
Thomas McCullom X 308 Minneapolis X April 30, 1888
Charlie Parsons X 361 Minneapolis X April 30, 1888 April 30, 1888
Owen Patton X 362 Minneapolis X April 30, 1888
Fred Rehse 380 Minneapolis X Signed March 3 May 15, 1888
Myers Robinson X 389 Minneapolis X April 30, 1888 May 6, 1888
John Shaw X 414 Minneapolis X Released May 2 April 30, 1888 May 1, 1888
J.C. Sterling X 439 Minneapolis X Released in late May
Joe Walsh 477 Omaha Purchased May 1 from Omaha May 2, 1888
George Winkelman X 505 Minneapolis X May 2, 1888
Michael Lynch X Released April 1; back for one game May 13, 1888 May 13, 1888
Podge Weihe Signed May 2; with Lima by May 19 May 2, 1888 May 7, 1888

[prewinter]

Omaha

Omaha players are hard to find, so I guess it doesn't surprise me that there could be quite a few more out there.
Hypotheticals:
Ed Gastfield is available as a Cabinet, as is Frank Selee, the manager.
John Campana was released on April 10, so maybe too soon to be on a card.
Ed Cassian was with Omaha until July 2 without ever appearing in a regular season game. He pitched in spring training. But he's not on the cabinet list, so not sure why he doesn't seem to have had a card.
Len Sowders, brother of John Sowders (St. Paul) and Bill Sowders (Boston). Not sure when he signed with Omaha, but he was gone by early June.
Sanders is listed on the Cabinet checklist, but I think this is an error. I wonder if they meant Sowders?



Player 1-Mar Card # Old Judge Club Cabinet Notes First Game Last Game
Bill Annis X 10 Omaha X April 30, 1888
Bill Burdick X 52 Omaha X May 1, 1888
Jim Burns X 56 Omaha X April 30, 1888
Dad Clarke 77 Omaha X Signed May 22 from Chicago NL May 24, 1888
Jimmy Cooney X 93 Omaha X May 10, 1888
John Doran X 131 Omaha X April 30, 1888 June 17, 1888
John Flynn X 164.5 Omaha X April 30, 1888
John Healy 219 Omaha X Pitched for Omaha on April 19; released June 7 May 20, 1888 June 2, 1888
Tom Lovett X 280 Omaha X April 30, 1888
Jack Messitt X 322 Omaha X May 10, 1888 May 10, 1888
Joe Miller X 324 Omaha X April 30, 1888
Tom Nagle 339 Omaha (1889) Signed June 7 June 7, 1888
Pat O'Connell X 353 Omaha X April 30, 1888
Dan Shannon 411 Omaha X Signed March 25 April 30, 1888
James Walsh X 477 Omaha Sold to Minneapolis May 1
Tug Wilson X 504.5 Omaha X April 30, 1888
Ed Gastfield X Signed April 28 May 5, 1888 May 30, 1888
Frank Selee X X Manager
John Campana X Released April 10
Edward Cassian X Released July 2
Len Sowders X May 1, 1888 May 26, 1888

[prewinter]

St. Paul

Hypotheticals:
Tom Morrisey and Frank Ringo were both listed in the Cabinet checklist.
Joe Quest was released early in April.
Peter Vogel was released later in April.
John Corbett was released even later in April.
It really makes me wonder what the cut-off date was to be included or not in the cards that were printed.

Player 1-Mar Card # Old Judge Club Cabinet Notes First Game Last Game
Varney Anderson X 7 St. Paul X May 4, 1888
John Barnes X 20 St. Paul X Manager
Scrappy Carroll X 68 St. Paul X April 28, 1888
Jesse Duryea X 140 St. Paul X May 20, 1888
Billy Earle X 142 St. Paul X April 28, 1888
Rudy Kemmler X 258 St. Paul X May 4, 1888
Larry Murphy X 333 St. Paul X April 28, 1888
John Pickett X 369 St. Paul X April 28, 1888
Charlie Reilly X 382 St. Paul X April 28, 1888
Taylor Shafer X 410 St. Paul X April 28, 1888
John Sowders X 432 St. Paul X April 28, 1888
William Tuckerman X 466 St. Paul X May 6, 1888
Peek-A-Boo Veach X 472.5 St. Paul X April 28, 1888
Tom Morrissey X St. Paul X April 28, 1888
Frank Ringo St. Paul X Signed May 8 May 15, 1888
Joe L. Quest X Released April 9
Peter J. Vogel X Released April 19
John Corbett X Released April 24

[prewinter]

So there you go. If you are still hanging in, congrats! You made it!

I would say my list of most likely possible cards isn't that much different than the players presented in the Old Judge Book. For new players, I would keep an eye out for Moriarty, Ingraham (Dugrahm), Struck, Hart, Gastfield, Selee, Morrisey and Ringo.

Then there are Campana, Cassian and Sowders from Omaha, who are likely (IMO), just based on how hard it is to find players from Omaha and how long they were with the club in Spring Training and beyond (well beyond for Cassian).

Cushman and Wells most likely exist with Des Moines. Broughton is probably out there with Minneapolis and Hoover with Chicago. Given that Sprague has new poses with the Maroons, and Coughlin was clearly photographed well after ST, it seems likely to me that Hoover could have a new pose with the Maroons, like they did a second shoot. How else do you have cards for both players released on May 16 and also a player signed on May 26?

So that's what I have to show for being stuck at home for a while. Thanks for listening!

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by prewinter

Milwaukee:

Hypotheticals:
Alex Ferson jumps out. He was identified with Milwaukee as early as January 8, and he was with the club through the spring. He was released relatively early (May 16), so maybe that is why there is no (known) card of him.
John Quincy Adams Struck was another pitcher with the club all through spring. He shows up on the Cabinet Checklist.
Hart on the Cabinet Checklist is probably Jim Hart, the manager.
And looking at the Old Judge Book, I'm not sure who they think "Keas" is. I haven't found anyone by that name associated with the club.


Player 1-Mar Card # Old Judge Club Cabinet Notes First Game Last Game
Andy Cusick X 108 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
David Davin X 118.5 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888 June 7, 1888
Alex Ferson X 158 Signed before January 8; released May 16 May 2, 1888 May 15, 1888
Tom Forster X 167 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
Billy Fuller X 173 Milwaukee X May 2, 1888
Jack Horner X 234 Milwaukee X May 1, 1888
Bobby Lowe X 281 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
Leech Maskrey X 295 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
Lynn Mills X 326 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
Pat Pettee X 365 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
William Shenkel X 401 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
Ben Stephens 438 Milwaukee X Signed May 16 May 22, 1888
Joe Strauss X 442 Milwaukee X April 28, 1888
Edward Warner X 479 Milwaukee X May 1, 1888
John Q A Struck X X May 24, 1888 June 10, 1888
Jim Hart (Manager) X X Manager

Paul-The only card in the set which contains a misidentification of an image with a name of a player not otherwise known in the set is Struck. There is an image of Strauss known with the name Struck listed below. The convention for identifying Old Judge cards that was adopted by the British Cartophilic Society and also subscribed to by Joe and myself is for the image to determine whose card it is. Therefore, in the book we call the card with the Strauss image and the Struck name a misidentified Strauss card. Having said that, based on the previously mentioned uniqueness of this combination, I would not be surprised to see a true Struck card turn up some day.

[prewinter]

I recall reading that (the mis-identification of Strauss) when I first was looking through the book. Now that I know who Struck is, and the timing of his time with Milwaukee, I too would not be surprised to see an actual Struck card.

[chlankf]

Great information and thanks. As an OJ Des Moines collector I have wondered if there could probably be any missing names. Fingers crossed. You are diving down a deep hole of research. You are going to get so much personal frustration, I mean enjoyment. I have done some research on the photographs in DM and have found some interesting things. Happy to share if interested.