Tommy McCarthy, Center Field, St. Louis Browns, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887 - 1889

This baseball card of Tommy McCarthy, the St. Louis Browns center fielder, was distributed by Goodwin & Company as part of the Old Judge Cigarettes series. The image shows McCarthy lying prone, hand outstretched, almost as if he were a classical figure in repose. Consider the striking pose; it's not one of action or readiness, but of stillness, almost vulnerability. The extended hand, near touching the ground, is not unlike the hand of Adam in Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, reaching out, not to God but towards the earth. This connection to the soil is primal; it's a grounding gesture that echoes across millennia. It's a curious tableau, linking the burgeoning American sport with the wellspring of human artistic endeavor. The game, the player, and the very ground he plays on become part of a timeless, ongoing narrative.