Mortimer Edward Hogan, Right Field, Cleveland, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888

Editor: Here we have an 1888 portrait, “Mortimer Edward Hogan, Right Field, Cleveland,” from the Old Judge series of baseball cards. It’s a photograph, but with such a soft focus it almost feels like an Impressionist drawing. What stands out to you when you look at this image? Curator: The immediate thing I notice is how this image, seemingly straightforward, exists within a nexus of commerce, sport, and emergent national identity. These baseball cards weren't simply documenting athletes; they were distributed with Old Judge Cigarettes. Consider that intersection – sport, health risks, and the promotion of an idealised masculinity. Editor: An idealised masculinity? Curator: Absolutely. What did it mean to be a man in the late 19th century? Hogan’s depicted not just as an athlete, but also a symbol, however manufactured, of strength, skill and, implicitly, the expanding American narrative of rugged individualism. But, who was allowed into that narrative? Did those ideals extend across class and race? This photograph makes me ask who profited from baseball at that time? Who was included and who was excluded, and how do images like these reinforce those societal divides, even if subtly? What do you think about that approach? Editor: I never considered baseball cards through that lens. The cigarette promotion makes the picture more about consumer culture than sport, but it makes you wonder who exactly the tobacco companies thought was going to buy this, and who got to participate in the “American Dream.” Curator: Exactly. Images like these are seemingly innocuous. Still, they’re complex artifacts that reveal societal power structures, ideas around consumption and idealised identity. Editor: Looking at this in terms of consumer culture and gender identity of the 19th century changes everything for me. Thanks for offering that background!