S.F. Hess of Rochester, New York is best known, quite ironically, as an issuer of cards featuring teams from the California League, which eventually became the more familiar Pacific Coast League. N321, an 1888 release, is a colorful, illustrated blank-backed set of 40 subjects. The set was regionally issued in California, so as a result of such a limited production time and geographic reach, cards from this set are extremely scarce and widely coveted by collectors.

Nicholas "Big" Smith was on the same San Francisco Pioneers roster as John Smith and Hugh Smith, and each had their own card in this set. This example of first baseman "Big" Smith is graded Poor 1 by SGC. Centered nicely on the front, light creasing near the top and general soiling explains the card's grade. There is some edge wear which is more easily visible when viewing the card's reverse, as well as some light paper loss and more soiling which do not affect the front, but at 135 years old, this is a fine example of a tough card from one of the earliest baseball sets ever made.