John Joseph "Black Jack" Burdock played for Boston's National League team from 1878 through 1888, primarily as a second baseman. Despite never playing more than 96 games in a season, Burdock has five different cards in
the N172 set. This example
features Burch in a dark uniform, with his bat by his left shoulder.
It is clear that baseball cards were in their infancy with the image on the front of this example. Burdock is in a clearly staged pose, the framing of his body with so much dead space in the background gives a truly unique insight into just how far baseball card photography and imagery has come in the last 135 years. Soft, rounded corners and a small stain in the lower right corner of the front of the card explain the technical grade, but the
scarcity of this
example far outweighs any technical issues the card may have. PSA has graded just three examples of this 1887 N172 Old Judge, with just one receiving a higher grade than the VG 3 offered here.