William Aloysius "Blondie" Purcell had a 12-year major league career. In 1887 while playing for the Baltimore Orioles of the American Association, Purcell led all major leaguers with 140 games played. Purcell has five different poses in the N172 set. This one depicts the captain of the Orioles standing at home plate, ready to swing.

Centering is nice, with a partially diagonal cut in the top right corner which does not diminish the image. The bottom is also cut diagonally, with the left edge lower than the right, and unfortunately that cut has spliced half of the bottom line of text on the card. Some fading of the image has left it looking light , but the strength and clarity of the original photograph is still enough to be able to see the detail in Purcell's uniform wrinkles, his shoes, and his face. A beautiful card with reasonable eye appeal.