Edwin John "Ed" McKean, Shortstop, Cleveland, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1889

This is a baseball card of Ed McKean, a shortstop for Cleveland, produced by Goodwin & Company around 1889 as part of the Old Judge Cigarettes series. The sepia tone flattens the image, emphasizing shape and line over color. McKean, captured in mid-stance, occupies the left side of the frame, balancing the composition against the negative space to the right, where we see a baseball. Note how the artist uses the visual structure to suggest a narrative. The implied motion of the ball contrasts with McKean’s stillness, creating a tension between potential action and posed passivity. This tension extends to the card’s function: is it a celebration of athletic prowess or merely a marketing tool? The card itself, with its sharp edges and standardized format, implies seriality and mass production. Think about the way the grid-like organization mirrors the emerging industrial landscape of the late 19th century, reducing individuals to repeatable images within a larger commercial structure. The artist destabilizes the established meanings, values, or categories by playing with the tension between art and commerce.