John Joseph "Handsome Jack" Carney, 1st Base, Washington Nationals, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1889

This small card from 1889, produced by Goodwin & Company, features John Joseph "Handsome Jack" Carney, a first baseman for the Washington Nationals. But this isn’t just a portrait of an athlete; it's a piece of commercial ephemera, a cigarette card, designed to boost sales of Old Judge Cigarettes. In late 19th-century America, the rise of mass culture and consumerism saw baseball emerge as a national pastime. Tobacco companies capitalized on this popularity by including these cards in their products, turning players like Carney into celebrities and commodities. The image itself, a staged studio shot, speaks to the era's photographic conventions and its growing fascination with sports figures. Studying these cards today offers a glimpse into the cultural values and marketing strategies of the time. Resources like historical archives and sports memorabilia collections can help us understand how images like this shaped public perceptions of athletes and the nascent world of professional sports. Through this, we can see how capitalism uses institutions to shape culture.