T.R. Daly, 2nd Base, Brooklyn, from Mayo's Cut Plug Baseball series (N300) 1895

This card was produced by P.H. Mayo & Brother of Richmond, Virginia, as part of a series of baseball cards included in packages of their tobacco products. Printed on thin paper stock, the image is a sepia-toned portrait of T.R. Daly, a second baseman for the Brooklyn baseball team. The material itself speaks volumes. These cards weren't intended as art; they were marketing tools, designed to entice customers to buy chewing tobacco. Yet, the printing process – likely photogravure, a relatively sophisticated technique for the time – elevates the image beyond mere advertising. There's a tangible quality to the card, a sense of craft in its production, even as it served a distinctly commercial purpose. The mass production of these cards reflects the rise of consumer culture and the increasing popularity of baseball as a form of mass entertainment. The labor involved in growing, processing, and packaging tobacco, as well as printing these cards, is embedded in this small rectangle. Considering the humble origins and the layers of social context woven into its creation, we can appreciate this baseball card not just as a historical artifact, but as a window into the complex relationship between labor, consumption, and leisure in American history.