The Old Judge set was released over four years, from 1887 through 1890, by the Goodwin and Co. Tobacco Company. Goodwin and Co. first put cards with their Old Judge tobacco products in 1886, when they released cards of twelve players from the New York National League club (the Giants), possibly as part of a much larger set of cards including boxers, actors and actresses. These cards were made from woodcuts based on photos by Joseph Wood (who is credited on the reverse side of the cards). This set is catalogued as N167.

In late 1886 and early 1887, Goodwin and Co. released the first cards of what would become one of the largest sets ever, with just under 2500 unique portraits of more than 500 players identified to date, collectively catalogued as Old Judge N172. These first cards, known as the Script Series, included only players from the New York Metropolitans (of the American Association), the New York Giants (NL), and Mike "King" Kelly, pictured in a Chicago uniform but identified with the Boston club, who had purchased him in February 1887, as well as a series of cards of boxers. They followed these cards up (most likely starting in early 1887) with a second series of cards known as the Short Number Series, including baseball players, boxers, actors and actresses, and others. This series included thirteen members of the 1886 World Champion St. Louis Browns. Two additional series ("0" Numbered Type A and Type B) were subsequently issued in 1887. There were multiple printings of these cards, leading to variations, including the presence or absence of a copyright line and/or numbers on some cards, but all cards from this period included an "Old Judge" banner on the card. Overall, the cards issued in 1886 and 1887 included players from all eight National League teams from 1887, as well as players from the Browns, Brooklyn and New York of the American Association.

For more information about the Old Judge N172 card set, refer to the book by Jay Miller, Joe Gonsowski and Richard Masson: The Photographic Baseball Cards of Goodwin & Company (1886-1890). This book is a comprehensive resource about all things Old Judge at the time of its printing in 2008.

In 1888, Goodwin and Co. launched an ambitious expansion of its set. A total of 245 new players were added, while new poses were released for some previous players. Coverage expanded across all teams in both the National League and the American Association, as well as the eight clubs in the new Western Association. Some previously issued cards were updated to include player movements, resulting in teams from some of the other minor leagues of the time as well.

The 1888 issues were where the Old Judge set intersected with the St. Louis Whites. A total of 30 players from both St. Louis clubs were included in the 1888 releases - 15 pictured with the Whites and 15 pictured with the Browns. (One player - Dolan - is pictured with the Whites but identified with the Browns.) The Whites are portrayed in dark (blue) uniforms, while the Browns are pitcured in white uniforms with dark socks. Of the fifteen players shown with the Whites, ten of them show up with a code on some of the cards. The codes, a "B", followed by a number between 5 and 15 (except for 11), were probably notes used by the photographer and were most likely mistakingly included in the lables on some of the early printings, but subsequently removed. The five 'missing' numbers (1 - 4 and 11) likely were assigned to the remaining five players pictured with the Whites, but were caught and removed before being on any cards released.

B.5 = Staley B.6 = Cantz B.7 = Nyce B.8 = T.C. Nicholoson B.9 = Alcott B.10 = Burch B.12 = Kenyon B.13 = Hines B.14 = Sproat B.15 = Loftus The fifteen players photographed, and team identification assigned to Dolan, give a clue as to when the photos were taken. The Whites and the Browns played three games against each other at the very end of March, 1887 and at the start of spring training for both clubs. The Whites had a player in camp - Frank Weikart - who played in all three games, but was cut afterwards. He is not pictured in the Old Judge set. Dolan, meanwhile, was signed by the Whites, but went on a two week raod trip with the Browns in spring training in April. And finally, Pete Sommers pitched for the Browns in those three games, is pictured with and identified with the Browns in the set, but actually pitched for the Whites in spring training all of April 1888, and then was released in early May 1888. These details suggest the photos were taken in early April (after Weikart's release and before the Browns left on their spring training road trip). They would then have been set for printing while Dolan was on the road with the Browns and finalized for printing before early May, when Sommers, Alcott, McCormick and Sproat were releaased.

WhitesBrowns
Charles Alcott (B.9)Jack Boyle