Stovey, Left Field, Philadelphia Athletics, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887 - 1890

This small photographic print on a card was produced by Goodwin & Company as part of the Old Judge Cigarettes series. It’s a portrait of Stovey, a left fielder for the Philadelphia Athletics, and it offers a glimpse into the commercial culture of late 19th-century America. The image is a straightforward depiction of a baseball player, but its context is revealing. Distributed with cigarette packs, these cards were early examples of advertising leveraging popular culture, speaking to the growing market for both baseball and tobacco. This conflation of sport and consumption reflects the increasing commercialization of leisure activities. The Philadelphia Athletics were a major team at the time and this helps us understand the growing business of professional baseball in the US. To understand this image fully, we might look into the history of baseball card collecting, the marketing strategies of tobacco companies, and the broader social trends that made both possible. These can be tracked using popular periodicals, business records, and team statistics. Art is often entwined with the economic and social institutions of its time.