Jack "Peach Pie" O'Connor, Catcher, Cincinnati, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888

Editor: This is "Jack 'Peach Pie' O'Connor, Catcher, Cincinnati," a photograph from 1888, part of the Old Judge series. It looks like it was originally printed for a cigarette brand. It's quite small, and the sepia tones give it a feeling of age and perhaps a slight melancholy. What do you see in this piece beyond the obvious subject matter? Curator: I see a fascinating intersection of labor, leisure, and commerce. Consider the materiality: it's not just a photograph; it’s a commercial print, intimately tied to the tobacco industry. How does the seemingly simple image function within the larger network of production and consumption? Editor: I suppose the photograph promoted a specific brand of cigarettes. Was that common then? Curator: Exactly! The image, the baseball player's likeness, the very idea of leisure – all become commodities. Goodwin & Company mass-produced these cards. The democratization of photography is part of the commodification, in a way. Editor: So you’re suggesting this is less about high art and more about mass-produced objects that have inadvertently become collectible due to their cultural relevance? Curator: Precisely. And this ties directly to how we understand baseball itself, its commercialization, and the role of the working class at the time. It's a social document, reflecting the industrialization of leisure. Editor: I never considered the image as part of the entire manufacturing process and what that said about American society in 1888! That gives me a different way to look at everyday photography and graphic art of the period. Curator: Indeed. Shifting focus from pure aesthetics to the process by which it came into being adds a vital layer of understanding.