Michael "Silent Mike" Joseph Tiernan, Right Field, New York, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887

This is a baseball card from the Old Judge series, circa 1887, produced by Goodwin & Company. Immediately striking is the sepia tone, which casts a warm, nostalgic hue over the entire image, and the small size of the card itself, a token of its time. The subject, Michael "Silent Mike" Joseph Tiernan, is centered, his gaze direct and unwavering. His striped uniform and the baseball bat held firmly across his body create a series of parallel lines that structure the composition. Tiernan's physical presence is boldly geometric, with his body bisected by the horizontal line of his belt. This division emphasizes the groundedness of his lower half against the striped activity of his torso. The backdrop is a soft blur, allowing Tiernan to emerge as the clear focal point. The baseball card serves as a cultural artifact, a signifier of late 19th-century America's burgeoning consumer culture. The formal elements, such as the linear patterns and contrasting textures, aren't merely aesthetic; they are integral to how the card functions as both an image and a commodity.