Delehanty, Washington, American League, from the White Border series (T206) for the American Tobacco Company 1909 - 1911

This baseball card of Delehanty was made for the American Tobacco Company and it's a reminder that art shows up in unexpected places. I imagine the team of artists sitting around a table working on these cards, trying to capture each player’s essence in such a small format. It’s like a tiny, portable painting, with its own set of challenges and constraints. The limited color palette—the pale blues and greens, the whites and browns—creates a soft, almost dreamlike quality. The way they render his stance, that turn of the body, is so economical and full of information. You can feel the potential energy in his pose, ready to throw. I’m reminded of other artists, like Fairfield Porter, who found beauty in the everyday. These baseball cards, in their own way, do the same. It's a reminder that art is always evolving, borrowing, and transforming, each artist building on the work of those who came before, contributing to an ongoing conversation. And ultimately, it’s about finding meaning and expression in the world around us, whether it’s on a canvas or a baseball card.