Lake, St. Louis, American League, from the White Border series (T206) for the American Tobacco Company 1909 - 1911

Here is a baseball card for the American Tobacco Company featuring Lake, St. Louis, American League. I'm struck by how the blue in the background feels almost abstract, like it's trying to be a sky but not quite making it. You can almost feel the lithographer, or whoever was in charge, grappling with the problem of capturing the atmosphere of a baseball game. It's not just a portrait of Lake, but a study in how to render a moment, a game, a feeling. The white border is a frame, but it also flattens the image, pushing the figure forward. It's like the artist is saying, "Here's Lake, but also, here's a piece of paper, a thing in itself." It reminds me that every image, even a mass-produced one, is a conversation between the artist and the world, a push and pull between representation and abstraction. The tension between the figure and the ground, the real and the abstract, is what makes this little card so compelling.