The Topsy Hartsel Collection
Tully Frederick “Topsy” Hartsel—who stood a mere 4’ 11” in his stocking feet—was one of the shortest players ever to play in the major leagues. He overcame this height disadvantage with enough skill to play outfield in big league ball from 1899 to 1911: first for the Louisville Colonels (where he was a teammate of Honus Wagner for two seasons), then for the Cincinnati Reds (1900), Chicago Orphans (1901) and Philadelphia Athletics (1902-1911). Over his career he turned his lack of height into an asset, with a lifetime record of 837 bases on balls, and led the league in this department in five of the ten years he was with the A’s. Upon joining Connie Mack’s Athletics, he lost no time in winning favor with Philadelphia fans, batting .283 his first year and leading the league in runs scored (109), bases on balls (87), and stolen bases (47). An outfielder throughout his 14-year career, he played in 1,345 games, garnering 1,335 hits for a life-time average of .276. Hartsel played a lead role in one of the longest games in American league history, the 24-inning victory of the athletics in 1906 over the Boston Red Sox. He finished his baseball career as manager of the Toledo Mudhens.

The offerd collection of Topsy Hartsel baseball cards and related ephemera was painstakingly put together over the past 30 years by his great-grandnephew, who attempted to collect literally every different baseball card that Topsy was pictured on ... and boy, were there a lot of them! He actually completed about 90% of this decidedly difficult mission, missing out on only the most obscure examples that our hobby has to offer. Nearly all of the cards have been professionally graded by either PSA or SGC.