Boyle, Pitcher, New York, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887 - 1890

Curator: This tinted photo, simply titled "Boyle, Pitcher, New York" comes from the "Old Judge" series, dating back to 1887-1890. It was part of an advertising campaign for Old Judge Cigarettes. It presents a portrait of a baseball player, P. Boyle, with a drawing-like quality from photography and printing, on toned paper. What impressions does this image give you? Editor: Well, first, there's a softness to it. An ethereal quality created by the sepia tone that suggests it comes from a different time. It feels like a cherished memory, maybe like baseball itself at the turn of the century—innocent, somehow. But even for a sports advertisement, it makes a striking visual, a quiet hero captured mid-action. Curator: You’re right about its striking elements. Let’s examine how cultural values and mythology attach themselves to particular symbols—baseball, especially. Early photography granted this sense of immortalization, now linked to commerce via baseball cards inserted into cigarette packs. This conflation shows up frequently. How might those combined meanings persist even now? Editor: It reminds us how deeply entwined commerce, culture, and even mythology can become. Each one reflects the other, shaping what it represents. Boyle, posed here with his gesture immortalized and mass-produced to the scale of paper in the 1880s, still hints to viewers what they want to believe of fame. I'm especially caught by how his gaze almost seems vulnerable under the New York cap. Curator: Fascinating! The vulnerability of celebrity is ever-present, I suppose. In those earliest portraits, like this one of Boyle, do we get some truth about the real person? Is there also some sense that Boyle is also performing—as the pitcher, or the hero of Old Judge Cigarettes, or both? I also think his slightly averted gaze invites the viewer into his personal world... for just a puff of time. Editor: Indeed. That delicate visual is just beautiful... there's an immediacy and gentleness to it. A snapshot, I might almost say, even though that seems funny given that it's photography! It speaks across time, of reaching our potential whether as ball player, portrait or advertisement for what dreams may come. Curator: Thanks, this gives us some potent insights into "Boyle, Pitcher, New York."