Owen F. "Spider" Clark, Catcher, Washington Nationals, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1889

Curator: This is a fascinating object: a baseball card featuring Owen F. "Spider" Clark, catcher for the Washington Nationals, made in 1889. Editor: It's amazing how small it is. Seeing the texture of the sepia tone makes me think about how it must have been made. Were gelatin-silver prints difficult to create on such a tiny scale back then? Curator: These were included in Old Judge Cigarette packs by Goodwin & Company. They represent the rise of baseball as a national pastime, connecting it to commercial advertising of the era. What symbolism do you see in this portrayal? Editor: For me, the image reveals the labour. While seemingly a simple portrait, think about the preparation of chemicals, exposure times, and the manual labour of the darkroom to create a mass produced consumer good. Its materiality screams of its time. Curator: Precisely, though more than the labor the player's upward gaze speaks volumes, suggesting a hopefulness and the anticipation of what's to come. Clark's posture shows both readiness and the embodiment of the hopes placed on athletic heroes. His upward focus symbolizes potential, reflecting on baseball’s early ascent as a symbol of national pride. Editor: Yes, and I see those industrialised hopes reflected in the print. It represents mass production that allows images to be accessible, even pocket sized. Curator: Indeed, it suggests a form of cultural distribution we take for granted now. This little card is an entire symbolic encapsulation of its time! Editor: I am compelled to see its value now, I had been thinking merely of how they mass produced these pieces, but thinking more of its influence on people makes this small token suddenly monumental.