Jacob Peter "Eagle Eye" Beckley, 1st Base, Pittsburgh, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888

Editor: So, this is "Jacob Peter 'Eagle Eye' Beckley, 1st Base, Pittsburgh," a print from 1888, part of the Old Judge Cigarettes series. It's fascinating how something meant for advertising ended up in a museum! It has a somewhat haunting sepia tone that I find compelling. What strikes you when you look at this, especially considering its history? Curator: It’s fascinating precisely because it blurs the lines between commerce, celebrity, and art. The image itself becomes a commodity. Consider the democratization of portraiture happening at this time. Photography and printmaking made images accessible to a broader public, not just the wealthy. These baseball cards, distributed with cigarettes, served as a form of early sports fandom, shaping a collective identity. How do you see this intersecting with ideas of masculinity at the time? Editor: That's a great point about the accessibility. Maybe the rise of the athlete coincided with a desire to democratize traditional heroic ideals? Like, a "common man" could aspire to be a hero on the baseball field, whereas societal expectations felt increasingly distant or unreachable. Is that what you were aiming at with the question of masculinity? Curator: Exactly. These cards visually codified ideals of athleticism and, to some extent, patriotism. Consider the proliferation of this imagery: distributed, traded, collected. The mass consumption of these images is integral to the cultural perception and popularization of sports, which remains so prevalent today. Editor: I see, it’s almost a pre-internet version of virality. Thanks; seeing it through the lens of popular culture and social influence makes this so much richer than just an old baseball card. Curator: Indeed. It reminds us to consider how seemingly simple objects can reveal complex social narratives and power structures.