William Franklin "Bill" Hart, Pitcher, Des Moines Prohibitionists, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1889

Curator: Before us, we have a trade card produced in 1889 by Goodwin & Company, titled "William Franklin 'Bill' Hart, Pitcher, Des Moines Prohibitionists, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes," a photographic print from a drawing. Editor: Gosh, look at the way he is posed and so white! Something very ghostly and frozen about it all. Feels like a relic, unearthed. Like an advertisement for a brand, that only existed in the nineteenth century, you know. Curator: These cards were inserted into cigarette packs, not unlike baseball cards today, though with the added complexity that cigarettes were consumed very differently across social strata, creating uneven markets around visibility and aspiration. It also evokes the social dynamics tied to the history of temperance movements. Editor: Oh, really? The Des Moines Prohibitionists part makes total sense! And those tall, dark socks are kinda stylish, even by today's standards. They ground him a bit amidst all the pale. Curator: The fact that it’s printed in monochrome heightens this sense of the past and highlights how sporting figures were presented and consumed as nascent celebrities. Goodwin & Company weren't just selling baseball players, they were marketing a lifestyle, ideas of masculine identity in late nineteenth century America and how commodities entered the cultural production through photographical representation of famous sportsman as the ideal American hero. Editor: It’s strange. This image makes me reflect on how even a mundane thing like baseball became tied to capitalism and advertisement. Think about how athletes have come to endorse all sort of products today... nothing is sacred, eh? Curator: These cards speak volumes about advertising strategies, celebrity culture, and even the socio-political landscape of the late 1800s, marking a transition to commodified leisure. Editor: In the end, all you're left with is a ghostly echo from the 1880s. Curator: Yes, but an echo that carries echoes of power, identity, and representation across the ages.