Trott, Catcher, Baltimore Orioles, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888

This is a baseball card from 1888, made by Goodwin & Company as part of the Old Judge Cigarettes series. Here we see Trott, a catcher for the Baltimore Orioles, caught in a moment of anticipation, poised to make a play. Cards like these existed in a culture grappling with new forms of mass media and advertising, creating celebrities out of athletes. Trott’s image, mass-produced and distributed with cigarettes, speaks to the commodification of the athletic body and the rise of baseball as a national pastime. What is particularly interesting to me is what it meant to see these athletes represented with a new form of celebrity. In a time of rigid social norms, the baseball field became a stage where men, often from working-class backgrounds, could achieve a kind of heroic status. This card offers a window into late 19th-century America, and an era of great social and economic change. It reflects the complex intersection of sports, commerce, and identity in the making of modern America.