Ezra Ballou Sutton, 3rd Base, Milwaukee, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887 - 1889

This is a baseball card of Ezra Ballou Sutton, 3rd Base for Milwaukee, from the Old Judge series, produced around 1889 by Goodwin & Company for Old Judge Cigarettes. At the time, baseball cards were a novel way to advertise. But they also captured something deeper: the construction of American masculinity at a time of rapid industrialization and shifting social norms. The gaze here is directed, stoic. Sutton is presented as a symbol of strength and determination. The whiteness of his uniform and the deliberate exclusion of Black players from professional baseball, speaks to the racialized dimensions of this construction. This ideal of manhood was intertwined with notions of white, middle-class identity. Yet, look at the context. Sutton, like many athletes of his era, came from a working-class background. This card offered a glimpse into a world of upward mobility, even as it reinforced existing hierarchies. What stories are not visible in this image? What is illuminated?