William J. Frey, Left Field, St. Joseph Clay Eaters, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1889

Editor: Here we have William J. Frey, "Left Field, St. Joseph Clay Eaters," from the Old Judge series, made in 1889. It’s a print, I believe made from a daguerreotype photograph, originally for Old Judge Cigarettes. The player holds the ball almost reverently, as if it were sacred. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Indeed. This image speaks to the rise of baseball and celebrity culture, subtly imbued into this mass-produced portrait. Notice how Frey’s posture, hands holding the ball, invites a consideration. This portrait, a symbol of burgeoning sports fame, connects deeply to collective American identity. It’s worth noting its origins: tobacco advertising, conflating personal success, leisure, and, perhaps unknowingly, the darker health outcomes. The baseball becomes a modern orb, holding power within society's game. What emotional response does that ball-as-orb evoke? Editor: A sense of potential and anticipation… both the promise of the game and perhaps even the illusion that purchasing the right cigarette will give you an edge, or grant you fame like Frey. Curator: Precisely. The orb is fraught with symbolic power. Also, Frey is formally posed. It grants him dignity, something these early baseball cards struggled to accomplish in an era grappling with rapid industrial and social changes. Do you feel this photo makes a deeper appeal beyond advertising? Editor: Absolutely. There is something about its directness, and the slight wear from time that makes it feel really immediate, a connection to that bygone era. The image acts like a visual echo through time. Curator: And this ‘visual echo,’ through an otherwise everyday portrait, gives lasting symbolic meaning to both the individual, and a culture's hopes. It prompts reflections on our own modern rituals of sport and fame.