On the blog today, we spotlight my "19th Century Base Ball Champions" card of Hall of Famer John Montgomery Ward, from my fun custom set released back in 2018 celebrating the stars of the game during Major League Baseball's infancy in the late-1800's:
The
college educated Ward put together some career between 1878 and 1894,
starting out as a top-notch pitcher before becoming a great infielder
for the latter part of his career.
From 1878 to 1884 he was
primarily a pitcher with Providence and New York, winning 164 games with
a 2.10 earned run average and 24 shutouts, leading the league in wins,
ERA and strikeouts once each, as well as shutouts with 8 in 1880.
Incredibly,
as with many pitchers at that time, he completed 245 of 262 starts,
putting in an amazing 2469.2 innings in only seven seasons on the mound.
In
1884 he shifted to shortstop and then put in a Hall-worthy career over
the next 11 seasons, hitting as high as .338 and stealing 540 bases,
including 111 in 1887 and 88 in 1892.
Of course, the
college-educated young man was also a primary factor in the formation of
the Players League, who had one season of play in 1890 as players tried
to gain power over their own destiny over owners and their horrid labor
practices.
Now, even his SABR bio states quite accurately
that no essay-length write-up could possibly do justice to his life, and
I agree 100%.
To get a better understanding of the man, his career and his life, a good start would be here:
Nevertheless, a true legend of the game, as well as historical figure.