C. Frank Genins, Center Field, Sioux City Corn Huskers, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888 - 1889

Editor: Here we have "C. Frank Genins, Center Field, Sioux City Corn Huskers," a baseball card print made around 1888-1889 by Goodwin & Company. It’s quite sepia-toned and has an interesting hazy quality to it. He looks like he’s praying. How do you read this card, what's striking for you? Curator: Praying, or about to make an incredible catch—depends on the day, I suppose! I find the piece captivating precisely because of that sepia wash, the kind of faded glory it suggests. It whispers stories of early baseball, before the corporate gloss, a simpler time maybe? What do you think the artist – Goodwin & Company, here taking on a persona – intended to convey about C. Frank Genins, the athlete? Is he heroic, or is he simply an everyday figure? Editor: Hmmm, that's interesting. I initially saw the pose as somewhat pious, but your take, with the faded glory and simpler times, makes me think more about how these cards were essentially advertisements, trying to imbue the player with aspirational qualities. It's like they’re selling an image as much as cigarettes. Curator: Exactly! The photograph transforms Genins into something larger than life, a hero not just of the baseball diamond but of aspiration itself. This era of image production saw how commercial images had a powerful way to conjure our feelings and sense of nostalgia, which helps frame this specific baseball card's endurance. Editor: I hadn't considered that interplay of advertising and this sense of nostalgia. Looking at it now, I can see how it bridges the gap between the game, the player, and a broader cultural feeling of wanting to connect to the past. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure! Art, like baseball, is always a conversation with the past, isn't it? It’s like we are all, together, making one big play.