Herman C. Long, Catcher, Kansas City Cowboys, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888

Curator: This is an 1888 collotype print, a baseball card really, produced by Goodwin & Company as part of their Old Judge Cigarettes series. It depicts Herman C. Long, a catcher for the Kansas City Cowboys. Editor: There's a faded sepia stillness to it. Long looks posed and somber, not exactly brimming with athletic dynamism. The aging and blemishes on the paper really amplify that feeling of something past. Curator: Right. These cards were essentially marketing material. Inserted into cigarette packs, they served to boost sales and cultivate brand loyalty during the burgeoning popularity of baseball. Note the advertisement printed below the image: "Old Judge Cigarette Factory." Editor: It’s fascinating how tobacco companies intertwined themselves with baseball. You have an activity promoted as healthy alongside a product demonstrably detrimental to health. It highlights the social manipulations used to construct both the image of athleticism and to boost cigarette sales at the time. It also really speaks to issues surrounding commercialization of sports, doesn't it? Who really benefits? Curator: Precisely. Now, collotype printing—a photographic process using gelatin—allowed for mass production, but it was also relatively high-quality compared to other printing methods of the time. The surface has a distinctive texture, created in this case using light pencil work and then transferred to paper. The labor involved in both the photographic and the printing process highlights the industrialized production of leisure and celebrity. Editor: Looking at Long’s posture, he almost looks burdened. Perhaps that comes from the photographic limitations, but I can’t help but see that against the exploitation of labor both in sport and the factory system churning out these cards. These commercial relationships remind me of present realities with social media influencers too. Curator: An interesting point, how our perceptions of athletic prowess have evolved through material processes and promotional mechanisms, how these industries rely on celebrity figures for material production of wealth. Editor: I keep seeing how seemingly disparate aspects connect – the aging portraiture and the industry capitalizing on ideals and addictions alike. Curator: So much is captured in this small ephemeral piece, an echo from another time, literally infused with its economic drivers and social norms of the late 19th century.