Elton P. "Ice Box" Chamberlain, Pitcher, St. Louis Browns, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1889

This is a trade card of Elton P. "Ice Box" Chamberlain, a pitcher for the St. Louis Browns, made by Goodwin & Company in 1889. The image was produced as part of a series of baseball cards included in packs of Old Judge Cigarettes. These cards reflect a significant moment in American social and cultural history, documenting the rise of baseball as a national pastime. Produced during the Gilded Age, the card embodies the era’s commercialism, linking leisure and consumption through advertising. The Goodwin Company, capitalizing on baseball's popularity, distributed these cards to promote their cigarettes. As a historian, I’m interested in how the photograph creates meaning through visual codes and historical associations. The sepia tone gives the card a sense of nostalgia, while the player's uniform and pose mark him as a figure of athletic prowess. To fully understand this image, one might consult archives of baseball history, advertising records, and social histories of the late 19th century. Art like this is contingent on its social and institutional context.