Myron Smith Allen, Left Field, Kansas City Cowboys, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888

Myron Smith Allen, Left Field, Kansas City Cowboys, was printed by Goodwin & Company in 1888 as a promotional card for Old Judge Cigarettes. Printed on paper, the sepia photograph depicts a player crouching to catch a ball. The card’s material and method of production are crucial to its meaning. This wasn’t fine art meant for a gallery wall. It was a mass-produced object, designed for distribution within cigarette packs. Its inherent disposability was part of the point. The company, Goodwin & Co., used photography and printing technology to capitalize on the rising popularity of baseball. They transformed star players into commodities, in turn capturing a moment in the history of labour and leisure. The card, humble as it may seem, tells a story of industry, image-making, and the commercialization of American sport. Considering the image's purpose and context alongside the photograph’s aesthetic qualities allows us to move past traditional hierarchies, prompting us to consider the cultural forces that have shaped our visual world.