Now here’s a monster card you won’t have to feel guilty using every day. Batting champion 1894 Hugh Duffy has a simply scrumptious hitting card that it all… hits, speed, and even some power. You’ll find this card in the second edition of the Baseball All-Time Stars set put out by APBA in 2010.
Duffy’s card has 1-2-6-6-6 thanks to his real life 51 doubles. But his real strength lies in his actual .440 average which manifests itself in additional two 7s, two 11s and two 10s. You want to talk about monster numbers? Duffy has a 35-7 and a 13-9. Yikes! I’m sure APBA had a hard time finding places to put his four 14s.
| Year | Tm | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1894 | BSN | 125 | 616 | 539 | 160 | 237 | 51 | 16 | 18 | 145 | 48 | 66 | 15 | .440 | .502 | .694 |
Hugh Duffy started out in the bigs for the Chicago White Stockings in 1888. He eventually played for the Boston Beaneaters for the bulk of his career (1892-1900). It was 1894 when he hit .440, the mark which broke the batting average record and that record still stands today. That year, he led the league with 18 homeruns. Also, his doubles mark of 51 led the league and was one shy of the all-time mark of the time.
The Beaneaters didn’t see first place in 1894 but three years later, they won the National League championship with Duffy’s help. He hit .340 that year.
For his career, Hugh Duffy hit .326 (39th all time) with 1554 runs scored (54th) and 574 (22nd) stolen bases and 1302 runs batted in.
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The kid could hit..one wonders why Cap Anson & Chicago management didn’t hold on to him..
From Cranston … my parents were born near there!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/APBA-football/122368517834311
yeah, I always liked seeing APBA cards of players from around where I grew up.
For me, it was Jim Sundberg who was from nearby Galesburg, IL. Also, Baby Doll Jacobson who came from Orion. I was told that my dad was distantly related to Baby Doll.
Very cool! One certainly notices the different birthplaces depending on the era of the cards and the sport, too. If I ever do a custom card for myself, it will reflect my Illinois birthplace: Dixon. My dad got his start at the Dixon Evening Telegraph.
it’s sad the SABRE weanies had to go back & revise all the icomic stats. Duffy batted .438…at least he died BELIEVING he had batted .438. There’s the famous photo of him as an elderly Red Sox coach, holding a sign that says ‘.438’ to a grinning Ted Williams in 1941, when he was chasing .400. Now the .440 is so round, it almost seems fake to me. I wish they would leave 100-year-old stats alone!
It still is “beyond bizarre” to me to see cards that I hand-marked in the late 1980’s (25 years ago) in my parent’s home in Westfield, MA, on the Internet.
The card pictured above is actually the original 1894 Hugh Duffy from the first OFAS set.