Mulvey, 3rd Base, Philadelphia, from the Kalamazoo Bats series (N690) issued by Chas. Gross & Co. to promote Kalamazoo Bats 1887

Chas. Gross & Co. created this baseball card, "Mulvey, 3rd Base, Philadelphia," around 1887 as part of a series promoting Kalamazoo Bats. The sepia tone flattens the image, emphasizing the geometric relationship between the player and the baseball diamond. Mulvey's stance, leaning forward with hands on his knees, forms a triangle that echoes the angular lines of the baseball field behind him. The composition is split into thirds with the player, the field, and then the stadium stands. The use of symmetry here, however, destabilizes any true balance. The lines draw the eye up and away. The flattened perspective distorts traditional depth. The stadium bleachers in the background become an abstract pattern rather than a realistic space. It's almost as if the artist is suggesting that what appears to be a straightforward representation is in fact a complex interplay of form, pattern, and symbolic meaning.