James Henry O'Rourke, 3rd Base, New York, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888

This is a baseball card from the Old Judge series, by Goodwin & Company, sometime between 1850 and 1950. It features James Henry O'Rourke, a third baseman for New York, and it is made using a sepia-toned photographic process. Consider the formal structure of the image. The composition is vertically oriented, mirroring O'Rourke's standing pose, with a bat anchoring the left side to counterbalance the figure. The use of sepia tones creates a tonal range that unifies the image, and the high contrast serves to isolate the subject from the background. The photograph is composed to convey a sense of authority and stability of O’Rourke. The vertical lines of his jersey, echoed by the bat, assert a kind of visual dominance, yet the subdued color palette also lends a sense of restraint. This tension is where much of the image’s dynamism resides. Does the image of O'Rourke reflect the values and ideals of the time?