M.E. Baldwin, Pitcher, Chicago, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887

Editor: Here we have "M.E. Baldwin, Pitcher, Chicago," from 1887, made by Goodwin & Company. It’s a photographic print, a collotype really, part of the “Old Judge Cigarettes” series. What strikes me is how… sepia-toned and formal it feels. It's a baseball card, essentially, but it could be a portrait. What do you see in it? Curator: Ah, yes, a baseball card elevated to portraiture, a fascinating paradox! I see a glimpse into a bygone era, not just of baseball, but of how we constructed heroism. There's a fragility here, in the albumen print, almost a ghostliness that reminds me of mortality itself. It’s interesting that "Old Judge Cigarettes" chose this medium – what are they trying to sell, besides cigarettes, of course? Editor: Maybe a feeling of nostalgia? Linking cigarettes with this kind of athletic prowess? Curator: Precisely. Consider also the setting. It’s deliberately ambiguous. Not quite a studio, not quite the field. He's neither completely an athlete, nor fully a…pin-up, for lack of a better term. Do you think that ambiguity makes the image stronger? Editor: Definitely. It feels… more universal somehow. Less about baseball specifically, and more about representing an ideal of manhood, or maybe just celebrity, I guess? Curator: Indeed. A perfect snapshot – pun intended – of aspiration packaged for consumption. I wonder how M.E. Baldwin felt about it? Was he in on the meta-narrative, so to speak? Probably not. But, in the end, art always has its own mysterious ideas. Editor: It’s wild how much a simple baseball card can tell you, or hint at, about the time. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure. Now I'm just craving a cigarette and a hotdog at the ballpark, though. Go figure.