James G. Fogarty, Right Field, Philadelphia, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887

Curator: Let's turn our attention to this intriguing little artwork, "James G. Fogarty, Right Field, Philadelphia," part of the Old Judge series for Old Judge Cigarettes, dating back to 1887. It's a print derived from a photograph, distributed by Goodwin & Company. Editor: Wow, it has an uncanny sepia ghostliness, doesn't it? The fella with the baseball bat seems almost spectral. Curator: That's largely due to the photographic printing process of the time. These cards were mass-produced as a form of advertising, inserting images of popular figures, like Fogarty, into cigarette packs. Baseball was gaining immense popularity and tobacco companies were quick to latch onto it. Editor: Baseball and cigarettes, huh? A real all-American past-time sponsorship. Look, I am drawn to his kind of blank stare and posture. There is a kind of quiet stoicism to it, yet the cigarette promotion screams capitalist hunger, but I’m more caught on that kind of odd visual contrast. Curator: Absolutely, these cards represent a fascinating intersection of commerce, sport, and celebrity culture. Fogarty’s image was being commodified, turned into a collectible item, and distributed widely to promote the Old Judge brand. Editor: Sort of the baseball-card-as-proto-meme kind of thing? Curator: Exactly! Furthermore, observe the staging—it's a studio portrait, likely taken with artificial lighting, rather than a dynamic shot from the field. These details tell us much about the image's creation and intended purpose. It’s a constructed reality, aiming for broad appeal. Editor: He does strike me as stiff. And that little bat across his chest is making me wonder if he's warming it up by some arcane power. The player kind of looks like someone out of "The Twilight Zone," but now a product pitchman? The absurdity makes my head swim. Curator: It's interesting to ponder the distance between Fogarty, the individual, and Fogarty, the advertising icon. This image raises broader questions about fame, consumption, and the early development of marketing strategies that we see amplified today. Editor: This trip into the past offers me a melancholy sense that things never truly change and this ball player kind of symbolizes the strange push and pull of the forces which commodify everything. And he's immortalized by cigarette cards? A nice kind of cosmic joke. Curator: A truly thought provoking reminder about the intertwined nature of entertainment, economics, and representation in society.