McTamany, Center Field, Brooklyn, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887 - 1890

Curator: There's such a specific melancholy baked into this photograph, don't you think? The sepia tone lends an antique seriousness to it, like peering into a faded memory of summers long past. Editor: Indeed! This is a baseball card featuring McTamany, center fielder for Brooklyn. It comes to us from the “Old Judge” series made for Old Judge Cigarettes by Goodwin & Company, dating from 1887 to 1890. Curator: Cigarettes and baseball… Americana in its nascence, wouldn't you say? Beyond its historical place, this image pulsates with latent anticipation. His pose, that reaching hand, implies so much more than a mere snapshot of athletic prowess. Editor: The real subject here is gesture. See how the hands, face, and text work together? Consider, if you will, how a ball player mimics a catcher as he is trying to engage something outside himself. To grasp at something elusive. This is how advertising mimics visual codes. The player mimics to advertise. Curator: Absolutely! And I would not overlook those spectral stands fading into the background! It gives the composition depth. As the focus shifts towards McTamany, an undeniable impression of looming spectators and fervent onlookers is there in absentia. A ghostly bleacher is almost as a halo behind McTamany's head. Editor: Goodwin & Company were truly clever advertisers, manipulating portraiture conventions into a commercial strategy. Sport itself is transformed into symbolic currency. Think of the collotype and albumen print processes – layering, revealing the depths, but also a bit of mystique to an otherwise commercial piece. Curator: I find that blend incredibly poignant! The merging of ephemeral popularity with high-art aspirations yields something genuinely captivating. The athlete's struggle transforms into our struggle to grasp at immortality. This baseball player from Brooklyn becomes a stand-in for everyone who seeks to preserve something fleeting. Editor: In many ways, he is preserved now—this image still draws us in. Curator: What we now find is this man's story echoing inside our story.