Wheelock, Right Field, Boston, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887

Goodwin & Company created this baseball card lithograph, "Wheelock, Right Field, Boston," around 1887, as part of a series for Old Judge Cigarettes. The composition centres around a baseball player, posed against a blurred backdrop of urban architecture. Linear elements define the figure: the sharp verticality of his stance, mirrored in the bat he holds. The background merges the geometry of buildings with the subtle curve of a bridge. The sepia tones evoke nostalgia, yet there's a flatness to the image, characteristic of early photographic reproductions. The figure's positioning and the advert at the bottom invites us to consider how early commercial imagery was constructed, using athletes to embody ideals of strength, athleticism, and cultural identity. The soft tonal range unifies the image, softening the contrast between figure and ground, blurring the lines between representation and commercial messaging.