O'Rourke, Catcher, Boston, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887

Editor: So, this is an 1887 photograph titled "O'Rourke, Catcher, Boston" from the Old Judge Cigarettes series. It's a baseball card, basically, and it feels very staged and formal, but in a way that's charming. How do you see this image fitting into the art world of its time? Curator: This baseball card is interesting as an early example of commercial photography entering public life. It's not high art, obviously, but it served an important function in shaping popular culture. Consider the role of Goodwin & Company: they distributed this image widely as a marketing tool. How does that context shift your perception of its artistic value, if at all? Editor: I see your point. I guess I initially saw it just as a portrait, but now I realize it's functioning as advertising and really popularizing a specific image of an athlete. I didn’t think about the business aspect at first. Do you think these images played a role in how baseball players were viewed? Curator: Absolutely. It presents a curated image of O'Rourke—respectable, athletic, even heroic. The photograph participates in the broader construction of celebrity and the idealization of sports figures. How might this differ from the way athletes are portrayed today, given modern media saturation? Editor: It feels much simpler, somehow. Now athletes are in our faces constantly, with reality shows and social media, it feels so manufactured. This card feels…more authentic, even if it was staged. But maybe I’m just being nostalgic! Curator: Nostalgia is part of the power of these images. They evoke a particular era and a certain understanding of American identity intertwined with sports and commerce. Thinking about this card and the company that made it has really shifted my idea of the visual culture in the late 1800s! Editor: Exactly. It is fascinating to look at an image of the baseball player and analyze it in relation to culture and commerce of the time.