August H. "Gus" Krock, Pitcher, Chicago, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888

Curator: Here we have "August H. 'Gus' Krock, Pitcher, Chicago," a baseball card dating to 1888. Goodwin & Company produced this photographic print for the Old Judge Cigarettes series. Editor: It's a striking image. There’s a directness in his gaze and the way he holds the bat – he looks solid, determined. You can almost smell the tobacco from the card itself! Curator: The Old Judge series is quite fascinating. These cards, inserted into cigarette packs, were a brilliant marketing strategy to promote baseball, the players, and, of course, cigarettes. Editor: Absolutely. I am immediately drawn to the labor involved, both in the baseball game itself and the production of these cards. Consider the photographic process, the printing, and the factory workers churning these out by the thousands! The cigarettes themselves, like baseball, were a consumable product deeply woven into the fabric of daily life. Curator: Indeed. And in many ways, these cards helped solidify the public image of these early baseball heroes. It's not just about the individual; it’s about how commercial imagery constructs national pastimes and their figures. Baseball's growth alongside industrial production highlights complex changes in social practices. Editor: What fascinates me is the materiality. It's a flimsy piece of cardstock, mass-produced, designed to be discarded – a promotional item. Yet here it is, over a century later, valued and preserved. Curator: It reflects changing cultural values, doesn’t it? A discarded advertisement transformed into a collectible piece of sports history and cultural artifact, representative of its place in society. Editor: This small piece gives much food for thought on the relationship of industry, work, consumerism, and our leisure pastimes. Curator: And considering it within its wider distribution as advertising, its status today prompts important discussions regarding the role of sports and their participants within contemporary public memory.