Jimmy "Loafer" McAleer, Center Field, Cleveland, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1889

This small card, produced by Goodwin & Company around 1889, depicts Jimmy "Loafer" McAleer in his Cleveland baseball uniform. Note his hands – they gently hold a baseball, poised in mid-air. This gesture echoes the iconography of offering, seen in religious art across cultures. Consider the Madonna offering the Christ Child, or figures in ancient rituals presenting offerings to the gods. The act of holding and presenting carries a deep, subconscious weight. Here, the ball becomes a symbol of McAleer's skill, a gift he offers to the game and its spectators. It’s a secular offering, yet it taps into primal human desires for mastery, admiration, and communal experience. Just as the meaning of an offering shifts with context, so too does the significance of this simple pose. We witness the transference of sacred gestures into the everyday spectacle of sport. The echo of ancient rituals resonates, transformed, in the modern arena.