Lawrence Grant "Larry" Twitchell, Pitcher, Detroit Wolverines, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887

This baseball card of Lawrence Grant "Larry" Twitchell, a pitcher for the Detroit Wolverines, was made by Goodwin & Company in 1887, as part of a promotional series for Old Judge Cigarettes. Printed on thin paper stock using a photographic process, these cards were cheap to produce, and widely distributed. The sepia tone gives the image a nostalgic feel, and also speaks to the industrial processes used to reproduce this image en masse. Labor is present in the image not only through the figure of Twitchell, but also in the countless, faceless workers who were involved in the manufacture of these cards, as well as the harvesting of tobacco. These baseball cards, like the cigarettes they were packaged with, reflect a growing consumer culture in the late 19th century, with both positive and negative impacts on labor and class. As we consider this small paper card, it reminds us that even the most humble of objects can carry significant cultural and historical weight.