Flanigan, Pitcher, Cleveland, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1889

Editor: So, here we have "Flanigan, Pitcher, Cleveland," made around 1889 by Goodwin & Company. It’s from the Old Judge Cigarettes series. It’s a photograph of a baseball player, obviously, and it really gives off this sort of… staged feeling. What's your take on it? Curator: This baseball card reveals so much about the socio-political landscape of the late 19th century. We have this intersection of sports, celebrity, and commerce. The baseball player’s image, reproduced en masse on cigarette cards, served to both popularize the sport and to promote consumerism, specifically, smoking. Notice the careful crafting of the player’s pose. He's idealized. Does it remind you of anything? Editor: Hmm… maybe like a classical statue? But put on a baseball field. Curator: Precisely. The producers are borrowing from established visual languages of power and heroism to elevate the status of both the player and, implicitly, the cigarette brand. Think about who had access to these images and where they might be displayed. What does this suggest about baseball's emerging role in American culture? Editor: That’s interesting… So it’s not just a baseball card, it's a snapshot of marketing tactics and social aspirations of that period? I never thought of it that way. Curator: Exactly. The politics of imagery are always at play, whether we recognize them or not. And mass-produced items, such as this, helped build culture in their time, and for the future. Editor: That’s definitely given me a new perspective on… well, basically everything. I will never look at a baseball card the same way!