“Humors of the Great National Game”
Once a Week, July 15, 1893, cover. Mechanical reproduction.
The National League and Association was formed in 1892 by the merger of twelve baseball clubs, and the growing popularity of the game is reflected in this cover by Thomas Nast. The cartoonist spoofs the relatively new innovation of sports photography with the drawing’s wavy commentary: “For artistic posing and effect, there is nothing like a study of instantaneous photography, especially during the baseball season,” and illustrates his point with wonderfully vigorous baseball players, including one sliding into base in the lower right corner. Although much of Nast’s later work was undistinguished, he used pen, brush, and penknife on chalk-surfaced paper overlaid with benday tones effectively here.
