1881 TROY (NY) TROJANS TEAM CABINET CARD WITH FOUR HOFERS: EWING, CONNOR, KEEFE AND WELCH.
Item Description
Presented here is the only known example of an 1881 cabinet card depicting all 11 team members of the National League's 1881 Troy (NY) Trojans Baseball Club, including four future National Baseball Hall of Famers: Buck Ewing, Roger Connor, Tim Keefe and Mickey Welch. This amazing 19th century relic pictures all four of these all-time greats at the very dawn of their professional baseball careers and pre-dates their commonly accepted rookie card appearances in the 1886-90 Old Judge series by five to seven years. In fact, the previous season of 1880 saw the MLB debut of Ewing, Connor, Keefe and Welch for Troy following the 1879 MLB debut of a fifth Troy Hall of Famer, Dan Brouthers, who would only spend two seasons with the Trojans before moving on to the Buffalo Bisons in 1881. Player identifications are as follows: Back Row L-R (Patrick Gillespie, Tim Keefe, Jake Evans, Buck Ewing) Second Row L-R (Bill Holbert, Frank Hankinson, Bob Ferguson, Ed Caskin, Roger Connor) Front Row L-R (Mickey Welch, John Cassidy). The backside of this incredible rarity reveals that this historic photograph was taken by the renowned New York photography studio, Hardy & Van Arnam located at 390 River Street, Troy, NY.
The Troy Trojans baseball club first joined the National League in 1879. Initially, their home games were played at Putnam Grounds before relocating to Haymakers' Grounds in 1880 and, finally to Troy Ball Club's Grounds for their final season in the National League, 1882. The 1881 edition of this historic team would finish in fifth place with a win-loss record of 39-45-1 under manager Bob Ferguson, who also doubled as the club's second baseman. The mound corps consisted of only two pitchers that season, Tim Keefe and Mickey Welch and one certainly could not ask for a better tandem than those two. The offense was led by the powerful bat of first baseman, Roger Connor, one of the biggest and strongest ballplayers of his era. Connor's teammate, catcher Buck Ewing, was regarded by many as the best all-around professional baseball player of the 19th century. The remaining infielders for the club were Ed Caskin at shortstop and Frank Hankinson at third base along with an outfield trio of Patrick Gillespie, Jake Evans and John Cassidy.
Buck Ewing spent his first three professional baseball seasons for the National League's Troy ball club from 1880-82 before joining the New York Gothams (later known as the Giants) prior to the 1883 season. Ewing would first achieve stardom during his first season there, hitting a career high 10 home runs while finishing with a .303 batting average. The following year, Ewing would accumulate an astounding total of 20 triples, even more incredible given that he was the team's everyday catcher. Buck would conclude his career in 1897, having played for the Giants, Cleveland Spiders and Cincinnati Reds as well as one season in the short-lived Player's League during 1890. After his playing days, Ewing would spend three more years as manager of the Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants through the 1900 season. Buck Ewing was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.
Best known for being the all-time MLB leader in career home runs with 138 until his record was broken nearly 30 years later by Babe Ruth, slugger Roger Connor began his MLB career with the Troy Trojans during the 1880 season and would spend the first three years of his career there before moving on to the New York Gothams/Giants from 1883-89. After spending one season with the New York (PL) club in 1890, Connor would finish out his MLB career playing for the Giants, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Browns in 1897. Roger was the NL batting champion in 1885 as well as the league's RBI leader in 1889. Connor was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976.
Tim Keefe began his MLB career in 1880 with the Troy team, posting one of the most impressive rookie pitching campaigns ever, including a still-standing record ERA of 0.86 in 105 innings pitched despite only a 6-6 record. After spending two more superb seasons with the Trojans, Keefe spent 1883-84 with the New York Metropolitans before moving on to the New York Giants club in 1885 for the next six seasons, winning the pitching triple crown in 1888. Tim would close out his MLB career with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1891-93, compiling an amazing 342-225 win-loss record, a career ERA of 2.62 and 2,562 strikeouts. Keefe was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964.
Mickey Welch also began his professional baseball career with Troy from 1880-82 before moving on to the New York Giants in 1883, where he would spend the entire remainder of his MLB career. Mickey retired after the 1892 season with a record of 307-210 along with a 2.71 ERA and 1,850 strikeouts. Welch was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973.
Cabinet card is 4.25x6.5". Cardboard mount has moderate corner tip wear with some surface paper loss. Scattered edge creases affecting mount and applied albumen photograph notably at top center and right center areas more visible on back than front. Top right field of image has thin and faint half moon stains seen in reflected light and mentioned for extreme accuracy. Image remains distinct with good contrast and clarity. Fine overall considering its age and composition.
Since no other photographic memorabilia has ever surfaced depicting this groundbreaking National League club, one could easily surmise that the value of this memento is priceless. You don't want to pass up the opportunity to own the only known example of this 19th century team comprised of four future Baseball HOFers, all making their MLB debuts only a year earlier.
