George F. "Piano Legs" Gore, Center Field, New York, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887

This small photographic card portraying baseball player George F. "Piano Legs" Gore was produced around 1887 by Goodwin & Company, as part of an advertising series for Old Judge Cigarettes. The image itself would have been created through a wet collodion process, a popular photographic technique at the time. A glass plate was coated with light-sensitive chemicals, exposed in the camera, and then developed immediately. The resulting negative could then be used to make prints on paper. Here, the texture of the paper support gives the print a soft, slightly faded appearance, characteristic of mass-produced ephemera. While ostensibly a celebration of athletic prowess, these cards were in fact designed to promote the consumption of tobacco, and the labor involved in the manufacturing of cigarettes. The Old Judge series exemplifies the intersection of commerce, leisure, and the burgeoning mass media of the late 19th century. It reminds us that even seemingly innocuous objects can carry significant social and cultural meaning.