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 poses in the N172 set. This one, always a popular card, depicts the Philadelphia speedster sliding headfirst into a base, reaching his left hand to touch it.

It is an absolutely gorgeous photo, and the print job does it justice, with beautiful contrast and clarity. McCarthy is just 23 years old in this photo, with nearly the entirety of his Hall of Fame career still ahead of him, and you can see the youthful exuberance in his eyes as he stares into the camera. Rounded corners and soft edges contribute to the card's technical grade, as does some light paper loss on the upper half of the left and right edges. Some horizontal creasing is more evident on the back than the front, but this card still has tremendous eye appeal.