Michael Cornelius Dorgan, Right Field, New York, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887

Curator: Here we have an intriguing piece from 1887, "Michael Cornelius Dorgan, Right Field, New York," part of the "Old Judge" series (N172) created by Goodwin & Company for Old Judge Cigarettes. This print uses photography as its medium and offers us a fascinating glimpse into early baseball culture. Editor: My first thought? This feels like a sepia-toned dream. It’s strangely haunting, the way the light catches his uniform and the baseball almost seems to glow. It's as if he's emerging from a long-forgotten memory. Curator: It’s compelling to consider how this piece functions as both a sports collectible and a form of early advertising. Cigarette cards often served as ways to promote brands while simultaneously constructing and disseminating particular images of masculinity and athleticism. We might ask how Dorgan, and by extension baseball itself, is being framed and consumed. Editor: Consumed, quite literally! You'd buy your cigarettes, puff away, and then collect these little snapshots of heroism. I wonder what Dorgan thought of all this. Did he see himself as a billboard for tobacco? Or as a budding icon? Did anyone ever ask him? Curator: That's the complexity of visual culture: representation isn’t passive. This image certainly perpetuates certain ideals, positioning Dorgan, as a white athlete, at the center of a burgeoning national pastime while the narratives and contributions of players from marginalized groups are historically obscured, underrecognized and remain less valued. Editor: True, there's a definite whiff of selective nostalgia. But beyond the politics, there's a melancholy here too, like we're catching a glimpse of a simpler time that probably wasn't that simple at all. You know? A bygone era clinging to some idea of an innocence that was already fading back then. Curator: Perhaps it reflects on how baseball helped in the project of creating shared national mythologies and identities in the late 19th century, a construction still deeply pertinent today. The print gives insights to understanding that narrative. Editor: Thinking about it, seeing his eyes fixed into some unknown, reminds me about all these people, their personal stories and accomplishments relegated into some archived item, into just art. A strange kind of immortality, don’t you think? Curator: It certainly raises those kinds of questions. It serves as a point of access to discuss broader, persistent issues related to representation, sport, commerce, and national identity. Editor: Absolutely. For me, it's about the fragile beauty of a moment captured, with the weight of a history trying to settle over him. Makes you wonder what became of Dorgan, and if he knew he would still be looking out at us all these years later.