A CURATED SELECTION OF GREAT CARDS
24. 1888 N338 S.F. Hess Charlie Sweeney – SGC VG 3
Wonderfully detailed photo of Charlie Sweeney massaging a baseball during pregame warmup. This mountainous setting and distinctive uniform show a composition that might be unique to this California League set. N338-1 S.F. Hess cards stand out as one of the 19th century’s toughest issues and prove difficult to find in any grade.
SGC’s population report contains one known card for first baseman and pitcher Charlie Sweeney, who seems to have worn himself out as a pitcher by 1887 and switched to other positions for the bulk of his remaining pro career. Sweeney came to the Providence Grays in 1883 after being expelled from his West Coast team for “dishonorable conduct” (essentially throwing a game as a pitcher). In 1884, he began the season as part of a two-man pitching staff with Old Hoss Radbourn, the two acting as rivals while the Grays opened the season with an 11-2 record. In a May game against the Boston Beaneaters, Sweeney struck out 19, a record he shared until Roger Clemens struck out 20 more than a century later. The pressure of the rivalry with Radbourn, while pitching in a pennant race, began to mount, however, and after an argument with manager Frank Bancroft, Sweeney was suspended from the team. Radbourn was left as the club’s only real pitcher, and he responded amazingly, posting a 35-4 record in the team’s final 51 games. Old Hoss finished the season with 60 wins and an astonishing 678.2 innings pitched, marks that would have been impossible had Sweeney remained with the team. The rest of Sweeney’s career was spent in and out of trouble, his temper and penchant for being a hard drinker repeatedly getting him in hot water. In 1894, Sweeney found himself in an argument that resulted in his pulling a gun and shooting a man named Con McManus, a crime for which Sweeney would spend four years in prison for voluntary manslaughter. Sweeney only appeared on two baseball cards, and this is his only photographic card (the other, from the N321 Hess California League set, is an illustrated card). This SGC VG 3 example is the only example graded by either PSA or SGC, a true rarity even within this issue. For all practical purposes, it remains the only way a collector can obtain a photographic image of this colorful character on a baseball card. Love of the Game is excited anytime we can offer such distinctive and significant singles from the game’s history.
MINIMUM BID: $5,000
25. Ultra-Rare 1888 N338-1 S.F. Hess Jocko Flynn – SGC 3
The N338-1 S.F. Hess California League cards stand out as one of the 19th century’s toughest sets and prove difficult to find in any grade. They feature players from the California State League, a precursor to the Pacific Coast League, and Love of the Game is excited any time we can offer its distinctive singles. SGC’s population report contains one known card for pitcher and outfielder Jocko Flynn, so he’s as rare as they come. Jocko won 20+ games in consecutive pro seasons in Meridien (CT) and Chicago, likely hurting his arm in the process. He bounced around western teams for several years, his drinking and arm trouble giving him difficulties along the way. While scarcity drives more interest than strict technical condition, this VG 3 displays well for Jocko’s detailed uniform, dark-banded bat, and pastoral studio scene. The card shows modest handling wear along its edges and minor foxing on the surfaces. These issues merit this technical score without distracting from Flynn’s stately central image. This example does not appear to be reflected anywhere in SGC’s population report, making it likely that this is the only graded example. Flynn is also listed as the rarest non-California League subject in the N172
Old Judge issue, with just one example known to exist in private hands and two others in museums (two N172 poses are known, one of which is located in the Edward Wharton-Tigar collection at the British Museum and a second shown in the book in the Ernie Harwell Collection at the Detroit Public Library). Given the rarity of N172 cards of Flynn, even factoring in the extreme rarity of the N338-1 issue, this is perhaps the only opportunity you will ever have to acquire a card of Jocko Flynn.
MINIMUM BID: $4,000
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