Abram Harding "Hardy" Richardson, Left Field, Detroit Wolverines, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887

This is an albumen silver print made in the United States, around 1887, by Goodwin & Company. It features Abram Harding "Hardy" Richardson, left fielder for the Detroit Wolverines, and was part of a series of baseball cards included in packs of Old Judge Cigarettes. What strikes me is the complex intersection of commerce, celebrity, and sport in this small image. The Goodwin company leveraged the rising popularity of baseball to promote their product, embedding the players within a culture of consumption. But it also speaks to the institutional history of the sport itself. The rigidly posed figure, the formal backdrop, and the commercial framing all tell us something about baseball’s construction as a respectable and marketable spectacle in the late 19th century. To really understand this card, we'd need to delve into business archives, baseball history, and the visual culture of advertising at the time. The meaning of this seemingly simple image is found in its rich social and institutional contexts.