Selected as one of baseball’s top five players from the 19th century by the Society for American Baseball Research, William "Buck" Ewing became the first catcher (his primary position) elected to the Hall of Fame and was enshrined during Cooperstown’s inaugural ceremony in 1939. Offered here is one of the most intriguing images to ever appear on a baseball card, let alone the 1887-90 Old Judge N172 series: Buck Ewing of the New York Giants alongside the team mascot, Willie Breslin, standing on a chair. The captions below reads, “EWING & MASCOT, New Yorks” and “COPYRIGHT BY GOODWIN & Co, 1889.”

In addition to Ewing being one of the more desirable Hall of Famers in the set, this mascot version is among the rarest to find in the hobby. The mascot, dressed in a miniature Giants uniform, was so popular, in fact, that he earned his own card in the 1887 Goodwin set as well as Old Judge’s N173 large cabinet series. The card is well-centered with evenly rounded corners and light surface chipping in the lower right and upper corners. Image quality is relatively strong – certainly above average – for an N172 Old Judge. The front is mostly clean with a a bit of spot toning. The reverse reveals a few surface creases that are not visible from front. A total of 34 "Ewing/Mascot" (all versions) have ever been encapsulated by SGC according to their pop report. This is one of five in VG 3, with 14 graded higher. Only 12 have ever been encapsulated by PSA.