James Henry O'Rourke, 3rd Base, New York, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887

This is a baseball card featuring James Henry O'Rourke, a third baseman for New York, produced by Goodwin & Company as part of the Old Judge Cigarettes series. Notice O'Rourke’s hands, raised in a gesture that evokes supplication. Across time, we see similar hand gestures in devotional images, where raised hands signify prayer, openness to divine influence, or submission to a higher power. Think of the orans pose in early Christian art, or the hands raised in Hindu prayer. Yet here, in this commercial card, the gesture is repurposed. It is not divine, but the anticipation of catching a ball. Consider how this transformation reflects a broader cultural shift. The sacred gesture is transferred to the secular space of sport. The emotional intensity once reserved for the divine is now channelled into the collective excitement of the game, imbuing sport with a quasi-religious fervor. These gestures survive, transformed, reflecting our shifting cultural obsessions and subconscious desires.