Philip H. "Buster" Tomney, Shortstop, Louisville Colonels, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1889

This baseball card of Philip H. "Buster" Tomney, Shortstop for the Louisville Colonels, was made by Goodwin & Company in 1889, as part of the "Old Judge" series promoting their cigarettes. The card's sepia tone comes from the photogravure process, a relatively new technology at the time. It allowed for mass production of images on paper, connecting celebrity culture to consumerism. Think about the relationship between baseball, tobacco, and the burgeoning advertising industry. A baseball player needed to catch the ball, and Goodwin & Company wanted to catch your eye. The card offered a small, affordable luxury for working-class folks, who could purchase a pack of cigarettes and get an image of their sporting heroes. But it also represents a lot of labor: from the baseball player’s toil, to the tobacco farmer’s, to the factory worker's who assembled the packs. By considering these elements, we can move beyond simply appreciating this card as a vintage collectible, and instead view it as a window into the social and economic landscape of the late 19th century.