Washington DC Baseball

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by GeoPoto

I recently picked up the photograph on the left below, which the seller was unable to tie to a specific player. But it appears to be related to the Jack Farrell Old Judge pose on the right. The card is not mine -- I have five of Farrell's Old Judge Washington poses, but not the one related to the photograph. Anybody (if anybody is paying attention) have any thoughts regarding how unusual the photograph is?

Your photo appears to be an amazing artifact.

[GeoPoto]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Your photo appears to be an amazing artifact.

Is that good or bad?

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by GeoPoto

Is that good or bad?

Hahaha! Maybe I should have said fascinating rather than amazing. Given the resolution of the photo, I think it's more likely that cards were made from the photo than the other way around, or at the least that they were both made from the original negative. How many of those can there be for 19th century cards? Anything on the back?

[GeoPoto]

The "photo" is "stuck" to a piece of black "construction paper". Any writing or marking on the back of the "photo" will not be easy to access.

[GeoPoto]

Player #17: Edward C. "Jumbo" Cartwright. First baseman for the Washington Senators in 1894-1897. 562 hits and 144 stolen bases in 5 MLB seasons. He debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1890. His best season was 1895 with Washington as he posted a .400 OBP with 95 runs scored, 90 RBIs, and 50 stolen bases in 531 plate appearances.

Cartwright is most famous for having seven RBI in one inning, accomplished with the Browns in 1890; his record would stand for 109 years until it was broken by Fernando ("Bodacious") Tatís of the Cardinals in 1999.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1655197409

[ValKehl]

Hi George,
I am very much enjoying all of your posting in this thread, both the great cards and the interesting biographic info re the players.

But, I'm curious about one aspect of the bios. Why is it that with all of the statistics you mention, you never or virtually never mention a player's batting average?
Best,
Val

[GeoPoto]

Hi Val! Thank you for the kind words. I am trying to provide a brief career overview, in a standard format, without losing (or abusing) the attention of readers (most of whom are, I assume) not intensely interested in the players or their history. If your question is Why not BA AND OBP? my answer is that it might begin to clutter the writing with "too many" (similar) numbers. If your question is Why OBP in lieu of BA? my answer is that I subscribe to the modern view that OBP is a richer statistic that conveys more meaningful information regarding the "value" of the player's offensive production.

I realize the players in question and the fans of their time were largely oblivious to OBP but keenly aware of batting average as a basis for evaluating and comparing offensive performance across teams, players, and seasons. That was then; this is now.