Goodfellow, Catcher, Detroit Wolverines, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888

Editor: This is a fascinating artifact: a baseball card from 1888 featuring Goodfellow, a catcher for the Detroit Wolverines. It's part of the "Old Judge" series, produced by Goodwin & Company as a promotional item for their cigarettes. It's a sepia-toned image, a photographic print, but it almost feels like a drawing. The athlete stands poised, gazing intently to the left, with his throwing hand extended, a baseball barely visible between his fingers. What catches your eye about this piece? Curator: Well, consider the cigarette card itself. This was a world before mass media saturation, when baseball heroes attained mythical status. The images function as secular icons. In many ways it echoes religious portraiture, doesn't it? Do you see how the subject stands, centered and framed, almost like a saint in a stained-glass window? Editor: I hadn't thought about that, but I see what you mean. The lighting definitely gives him a certain...aura. But what about the baseball itself? Does it hold any particular symbolic weight? Curator: Absolutely. The ball is key. It represents possibility, potential energy about to be unleashed. Think of the trajectory of a ball – a metaphor for life, achievement, perhaps even destiny. Consider also the company that distributed this image: cigarettes. There is a contrast between ideas of health and athleticism compared to smoking, an idea rooted in addiction and eventually death. There is much to explore here. What have we missed? Editor: So, it's more than just a baseball card; it's a cultural artifact loaded with symbolic meaning, revealing much about how heroes were created and consumed at the time. Curator: Precisely! And how even mundane objects can be powerful vessels for cultural memory.