Murphy, Philadelphia, American League, from the White Border series (T206) for the American Tobacco Company 1909 - 1911

This small card, one of a series from the American Tobacco Company, captures Murphy of the Philadelphia American League. It's a tiny window into another era, where art and commerce met in the everyday object. The color palette is muted, almost pastel-like, with a hazy sky and soft green field. You can see the mechanical process in the overlaid dots of color; it's not about blending, but about the accumulation of marks, which is how I think about painting a lot of the time. Look at the way the light catches the fabric of Murphy's sleeve. There’s a beautiful economy of means, with just a few specks of grey defining form. The whole card feels like a faded memory, a moment captured and preserved. This card reminds me of the work of Gerhard Richter, in that the softness and diffusion evokes the past, and a feeling of nostalgia. It's a reminder that art, like baseball, is about more than just the game; it’s about history, memory, and the stories we tell ourselves.