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

Curator: Here we have an albumen print dating back to 1888, a baseball card from the Old Judge series, specifically depicting a player named Boyle from Indianapolis. It was produced by Goodwin & Company, cigarette manufacturers. Editor: The sepia tone gives it a certain gravitas. He looks almost priestly, his hands clasped like that. There's a sense of earnestness about the figure despite its humble purpose. Curator: It's fascinating to consider the context of this object. These cards were essentially promotional material, inserted into cigarette packs as a marketing tactic. The baseball cards served as a novel collectable. Editor: Absolutely, and beyond the collectability, think about the images they chose. Here, you have Boyle, the central figure, an almost Christ-like figure in a baseball uniform. His hands clasped invoke a kind of contemplative strength, fitting the turn-of-the-century idealized man. Curator: Indeed, the materials speak volumes about production and consumption. Albumen prints were relatively inexpensive to mass-produce, allowing for widespread distribution, while linking this imagery to something as mass-consumed as cigarettes complicates our relationship to the symbolism within it. It shows a sort of social commentary; sports heroes turned icons distributed through commodities, making idols literally accessible. Editor: You see how his figure relates to larger cultural ideas about labor and value, it does underscore the shift towards commercialized leisure and even manufactured celebrity. This connects the player to a cultural pantheon. A new iconography built around celebrity, and also speaks to how these heroes get into your hands— literally inside your smoke packs, consumed and discarded. Curator: Thinking about the original labor and commercial systems brings new ideas to the picture. You could also say that Boyle, by his stance, almost blesses those smokes that they are selling and reminds people about the enjoyment of a new way of life at this time. Editor: It's hard to unsee that association now, that connection! It certainly shifts my view. I thought it would be just a simple baseball card but it carries some significant emotional, cultural, and social connotations. Curator: And there we see how just one image reveals connections, the processes, values, and meanings bound up inside something that at first may look simply as marketing.