19th Century: Baseball and American Culture

Old Judge Cigarettes, 1887-1890
First Baseball Cards

Source: Old Cardboard

Darktown Battery-(2080-A) J & E Stevens Co., Designed by James H. Bowen, Patented 1/17/1888. "Place a coin in the hand of the pitcher, press the lever, and the coin is swiftly pitched. As the batter misses, it is safely deposited by the catcher."

Source: www.liveauctioneers.com

Baseball's first-ever yearbook, predating the Spalding and Reach Guides. Published in Chicago by Mussey & Harper in 1888, The Pictorial Base Ball Album contains profiles of the game's stars and founding fathers like George Wright and Cap Anson, stats, illustrations, schedules, etc.
Source: Lelands.com

Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide Cover, 1889

Source: American Athletic Foundation's Digital Archive

1889
Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide
Source: American Athletic Foundation's Digital Archive

"Evils in the Professional Arena," Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide, 1889
A Call For a Prohibition Rule

Source: American Athletic Foundation's Digital Archive

Postcard with the facial images of the Chicago White Stockings' "Stonewall Infield" of Cap Anson, Ed Williamson, Tom Burns, and Fred Pfeffer, the star attractions of the team's "world baseball tour", winter 1888-'89.

Source: Lelands.com

St. George Ball Park, Staten Island, New York

Source: American Studies at the University of Virginia

The Baseball Player
Douglas Tilden, 1889
Golden Gate Park

(Originally titled, "The National Game")
Source: Sanstead.com

CASEY AT THE BAT: A BALLAD OF THE REPUBLIC, 1888

"The Ball Game," A Film by Thomas A. Edison, May 20, 1898.

1911
Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide. Spanish-American Edition.

Source: American Athletic Foundation's Digital Archive