A pioneer of athletics in the United States, Ed Abbaticchio was much more than just a quality Major league baseball player for 13 seasons. He was the first Italian born player in the major leagues, and the first man to play both Baseball and Football Professionally (he was an early professional football player in the late 1890's). He was also the first person to develop the spiral punting that exists to this day. Considering his accomplishments, Abbaticchio is one of the most underrated athletes of his day. The offered photograph shows Ed during the 1909 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates, fielding a ball and turning to throw it. Condition and clarity are both nice and the image is one of only a handful of original photographs of Abbaticchio that exist on the field of play.