Hall of Fame first baseman Dan Brouthers completed his remarkable 19-year major league career with a lifetime batting average of .342, and an on base percentage of .423, landing him at #12 and #16 on the all-time lists.  The big lefty from upstate New York broke in with the Troy Trojans, but found his stride as a member of the Buffalo Bisons, where he played for five seasons between 1881 and 1885.  It is with the Bisons that he is identified on this gorgeous cabinet, picturing the budding star in street clothes, a hint of a smile under his mustache.  

The cabinet bears the insignia of the Randall Photography Studio of Detroit, a studio owned by prominent photographer Coryon Chandler Randall.  Randall was known for photographing local dignitaries, but his best-remembered photo was that of abolitionist and activist Sojourner Truth, which is a part of the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery.  The Randall logo graces the bottom of the mount, the photo artistically placed in the center of the image area.  Though graded AUTHENTIC by SGC, the cabinet shows no sign of alteration of trimming, the grading company demonstrating its tendency to err on the side of caution when it comes to authenticating individual mounted photos.  Indeed, the condition is outstanding, with visible foxing in the image, not encroaching on the photo of Brouthers itself to any great degree.  Some very minor staining, largely at the edges, is visible on the reverse.

Of course by September of 1885, Brouthers would make Detroit his seasonal home, as the cash-strapped Trojans sold four key players to the Detroit Wolverines for $7,000.  Brouthers spent three seasons in Detroit, winning the 1887 Championship over St. Louis, before being similarly packaged and sent to Boston.  It is during these seasons - the late 1880s and early 1890s - that Brouthers' cardboard collectibles largely originate.  In addition to his mainstream card issues from 1887 and beyond, Brouthers has been seen on cabinet photos dating as early as his 1886 Tomlinson photo.  This example, by virtue of his identification with Buffalo, likely dates to 1885 at the latest, and potentially as early as 1881.  We know of no earlier collectible photo of Brouthers.

Extremely rare and potentially unique, an incredibly handsome cabinet photo featuring an extremely early image of Hall of Famer Dan Brouthers.