One of Boston's "Heavenly Twins" under manager Frank Selee, Thomas Francis Michael "Tommy" McCarthy was an outstanding base runner who stole 93 bases for the St. Louis Browns in 1888. He was a pioneer in trapping fly balls in the outfield, and once held the National League record for outfield assists in a season. He played 1,273 games over 13 seasons, collecting 1,493 hits in his Hall of Fame career.

McCarthy has nine different cards in the N172 set. This example depicts the St. Louis Browns Center Fielder ready to leap for a catch, with his hands outstretched. The image on this card was miscut, as you can see the M in McCarthy and the S in Browns each cut off the top line of text, despite having plenty of border room on either side of the actual card.

The (MK) qualifier, on the other hand, comes from some faint writing on the back side of the card, running diagonally across the upper right corner. That writing does not affect the front of the card, which retains tremendous eye appeal. It is nicely centered, and while the image may have faded somewhat, the details in McCarthy's uniform and hands are all still clearly visible.