Charles Augustus "Kid" Nichols, Pitcher, Omaha Omahogs/ Lambs, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1889

This is a baseball card from 1889, by Goodwin & Company, featuring Charles Augustus "Kid" Nichols of the Omaha Omahogs. The image centres around Nichols holding his baseball bat, ready to strike, but it's the ball itself that draws my attention. It hangs suspended in mid-air beside him, an orb pregnant with potential energy. It echoes ancient depictions of celestial bodies, bringing to mind the sun disc in Egyptian art, an emblem of power and life force. In a way, it reflects a fascination with the cosmos. The baseball, in its trajectory, also embodies a modern-day understanding of motion, physics, and potentiality. Like the Wheel of Fortune, ever turning, its flight symbolizes the unpredictable nature of fate, and the cyclical rhythms of triumph and defeat. The card captures something profoundly human: our enduring quest to grasp the transient and foresee the unknown.