They Never Made It On To "Old Cardboard"

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Posted By: ErikV

Great trivia question! Here's my submission. This player played 6 seasons in the American Association, his last being in 1886. As far as I know his likeness was never produced on a baseball card.

John Lee Richmond (or simply Lee Richmond) (born May 5, 1857 in Sheffield, Ohio - died October 1, 1929 in Toledo, Ohio) was a left-handed pitcher who threw the first perfect game in major league baseball history. He played for the Worcester, Massachusetts Worcesters (no nickname).

On June 12, 1880, after staying up all night at a pregraduation party at Brown University, Richmond played in an early-morning baseball game between his alma mater and Yale. He skipped lunch to reach Worcester in time for his starting assignment. The game which was played at the Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds near the intersection of Sever St. and Highland St. in Worcester lasted 1 hour and 26 minutes.

In his perfect game, Richmond struck out five, allowed only three balls to be hit out of the infield, and, remarkably, got one of his 27 outs when the right fielder threw the batter out at first base. Worcester beat Cleveland 1-0, with the only run scoring on an error by the Cleveland second baseman.

Five days later Monte Ward threw baseballs' second perfect game.

Sometimes called J. Lee Richmond, in a 6-season career, statistics show that he was 75-100 with a 3.06 ERA in 191 games, 179 starts. 161 of those starts were complete games, 8 of them shutouts, and one of those his famous perfect game. He had 552 strike outs in 1583 career innings pitched. After leaving baseball, Richmond became a doctor and later a professor.