Stovey, Left Field, Philadelphia Athletics, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888

This baseball card was made by Goodwin & Company for Old Judge Cigarettes, around 1888. It's made of paper, carefully printed with an image of Stovey, left fielder for the Philadelphia Athletics. At first glance, it might seem like simple memorabilia, but it’s deeply embedded in the economic and social fabric of its time. These cards were not conceived as art. They were promotional tools, mass-produced to boost cigarette sales, and a testament to the burgeoning consumer culture of the late 19th century. The Old Judge series captures baseball players during a transformative era for both the sport and the commercialization of leisure. The fact that we find it in a museum today blurs the lines between commodity, art, and historical artifact. It challenges us to consider how value is assigned and the varied roles of art. It's an artifact of a time when even the most everyday objects were becoming intertwined with larger networks of labor, politics, and consumption.