Philadelphia Team, from the Kalamazoo Bats series (N690) issued by Chas. Gross & Co. to promote Kalamazoo Bats
Medium
Albumen photograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 1/4 in. × 4 in. (5.7 × 10.1 cm)
Classification
Photographs|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick
Accession Number
Burdick 230, N690.8
Tags
Art Historical Context
This 1887 albumen photograph captures the Philadelphia baseball team as part of the Kalamazoo Bats series (N690), issued by Chas. Gross & Co. to promote their sporting goods. Measuring just 2¼ by 4 inches, the small-format image belongs to a category of ephemera that blended photography with advertising during baseball’s formative professional era. Albumen prints, prized for their rich tonal range, allowed manufacturers to reproduce team portraits affordably and distribute them widely as trade cards. The card reflects the growing popularity of baseball in the 1880s, when teams became symbols ...