John Charles "Jack" Crooks, 2nd Base, Omaha Omahogs/ Lambs, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888 - 1889

Curator: Looking at this sepia-toned photograph, "John Charles 'Jack' Crooks, 2nd Base, Omaha Omahogs/Lambs," dating from around 1888-1889, what jumps out at you? It’s a card produced by Goodwin & Company as part of the Old Judge Cigarettes series. Editor: Instantly, the aura of Americana and forgotten masculinity. It feels so… stiff, posed. There’s this haunting feeling, a whisper of a vanished era—plus, the absurdity of using baseball cards to sell cigarettes! Curator: The photo definitely resonates with that fin-de-siecle feeling. Baseball, at the time, was solidifying its place in American culture. Cards like these, tucked into cigarette packs, helped construct the celebrity of these early players, didn’t they? Crooks’ stoic expression embodies a sort of turn-of-the-century stoicism. Editor: Exactly! Look at his determined eyes, a grip on that ball…He almost looks as though he's facing some deeper existential battle more that just an oncomming batter. These aren’t candid shots; these are constructed mythologies of burgeoning heroes. And it worked! Cigarettes and baseball--a perfect storm for immortality, I guess! Curator: Yes, and if we delve a little deeper into symbolism, baseball is frequently seen as a metaphor for opportunity and a cultural symbol that is quintessentially “American". Placing this portrait next to the advertising copy is jarring, almost irreverent to this modern viewer. We can also infer from Goodwin's target demographic from the text that men and notions of masculinity are explicitly part of their marketing campaign. Editor: True. We see these historical strata laid bare— the commercial exploitation woven into a nation's cultural identity. Though unsettling in hindsight, the fact this artifact survives suggests the strength and endurance of the symbols themselves. What begins as commerce transcends that base purpose. Curator: I'll agree with that wholeheartedly. So much information compacted into such a little portrait. It’s also rather haunting, as you initially expressed, seeing a shadow of history so viscerally. Editor: Right! A shadow boxing match in sepia-tones between commerce and culture where nobody really won or lost, which seems the quintessence of the game!