Ryan, Right Field, Chicago, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887

This is a photograph of Ryan, right field for Chicago, made in 1887 by Goodwin & Company as part of the Old Judge Cigarettes series. The card depicts a baseball player in uniform, poised to throw a ball. The image itself, beyond its function as advertisement, speaks to the rise of baseball as a national pastime in late 19th-century America. It speaks to commercialism and the burgeoning marketing strategies that linked products like cigarettes with popular figures. The studio backdrop reminds us of early photography’s limitations. The social and economic contexts in which photographs such as this were made, circulated, and collected are rich with meaning. To understand it fully, one can delve into market trends and the history of baseball, to understand the convergence of sport, commerce, and visual culture in the United States. Only then can we appreciate this image as a piece of social history.