Lynch, Mets, from the Kalamazoo Bats series (N690) issued by Chas. Gross & Co. to promote Kalamazoo Bats

Art Historical Context

This 1887 albumen photograph captures Lynch, a player for the New York Metropolitans—commonly known as the Mets—during the early years of professional baseball. Issued by Chas. Gross & Co. as part of the Kalamazoo Bats series (N690), the card promoted the company’s wooden bats while serving as one of the first widely distributed baseball trading cards. At just 4 by 2¼ inches, it reflects the growing popularity of the sport and the emerging culture of fan memorabilia in late-19th-century America. The image was produced using the albumen process, a photographic technique that allowed sharp detail and tonal richness on small paper sheets. Though primarily commercial ephemera, these portraits helped establish the visual language of modern sports cards, blending straightforward portraiture with advertising. Their survival in museum collections underscores how everyday objects can document both athletic history and the evolution of photographic printing. Today, this piece from the Metropolitan Museum’s Jefferson R. Burdick Collection offers visitors a tangible link to baseball’s formative era and the inventive ways photography entered popular culture.