Abram Harding "Hardy" Richardson, Left Field, Detroit Wolverines, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887

Editor: This is an albumen print from 1887, a baseball card actually, featuring Abram Harding "Hardy" Richardson of the Detroit Wolverines. It was part of the "Old Judge Cigarettes" series, published by Goodwin & Company. There's something strikingly formal about it for a sports card; almost like a stately portrait, the player assuming the pose of someone you’d meet in a photographic studio rather than a ballpark. How would you interpret the cultural significance of this image? Curator: Well, the cigarette cards, emerging alongside mass-produced photography, captured not just faces, but ideals. Notice Richardson isn't mid-action. He is presented holding his bat across his body and angled up towards his face with his other arm. His crossed arms carry associations with power, but in this instance, also defense or self-protection. This isn't a warrior, but a cultivated man participating in sport, not war. Does this reading seem plausible to you? Editor: That's fascinating, I hadn't considered the carefully constructed "cultivated man" image. It makes sense when you realize it was printed by a tobacco company to advertise it's products. I suppose, for it's time, this was a revolutionary method of getting in the hands of baseball fans. Curator: Precisely. And think of how baseball itself, then newly codified, was being integrated into the American identity, mirroring and promoting certain values: order, discipline, individual achievement within a collective effort. Each image becomes a mnemonic device, recalling the era’s hopes and anxieties. What is one thing you take away from that era, in reviewing the card? Editor: That even a seemingly simple commercial item carries complex layers of social meaning and cultural aspiration; definitely much more than meets the eye. Thank you for shedding so much light! Curator: A pleasure. Cultural memory resides in the most unassuming of objects.