Lev Shreve, Pitcher, Indianapolis, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888

Curator: Here we have an albumen print, a baseball card really, dating to 1888. It's from the "Old Judge" series produced by Goodwin & Company, featuring Lev Shreve, a pitcher for Indianapolis. What strikes you first about this little piece of history? Editor: Its scale. It's so intimate. It almost feels like finding a pressed flower in a forgotten book. The sepia tones give it this beautiful, nostalgic haze, like a half-remembered dream of summer afternoons and crack of the bat. It almost idealizes the game itself. Curator: I think that’s true; there's a formality here you wouldn’t see in a modern sports photo. It’s meant to be collected, traded—treasured, even. That's interesting given its link to cigarettes. Talk about strange bedfellows in advertising. Editor: Indeed! This portrait, almost devotional in its presentation, feels deeply embedded in a bygone era. It presents Shreve like a minor deity, frozen mid-throw, with the hopes of Indianapolis riding on his arm. The cigarettes are irrelevant, almost ironic—they're selling dreams more than nicotine. It makes one think of other similar, ubiquitous cultural images, rendered trivial and ephemeral over time, yet forever imprinted in the popular consciousness. Curator: Precisely. The sepia tones become almost synonymous with this period in sports and American life in general, this golden age. Think of what "sepia" signifies in our visual lexicon now. And Lev Shreve becomes a stand-in, an icon, for that era. But what gets lost is his particular story, his humanity. Editor: Yes, Shreve becomes subsumed into the archetypal baseball player. But even in that limited frame, his humanity flickers. His gaze has an earnest quality, and his posture conveys this readiness. Perhaps even determination? But you are right; we lose the reality for the symbol. I wonder, were it in color, would it have such the same timeless quality? Curator: An excellent point. I’m not so sure it would. Editor: Well, exploring Lev Shreve's likeness has given me a deeper appreciation for baseball, as it both plays and is played in our minds and collective imagination. Curator: And for me, a clearer view on how fleeting and contingent fame truly is. One moment in the sun can cast a long shadow, indeed.