Rusie, Pitcher, New York, from Mayo's Cut Plug Baseball series (N300)

Art Historical Context

This small commercial lithograph from 1895 captures Amos Rusie, the powerful right-handed pitcher for the New York Giants, as part of Mayo’s Cut Plug Baseball series (N300). Produced by P.H. Mayo & Brother in Richmond, Virginia, the card was designed as a promotional insert for the company’s cut-plug tobacco. At just over two by one-and-a-half inches, its compact format made it easy to tuck into tobacco packages, turning everyday purchases into opportunities for fans to collect images of their favorite athletes. In the 1890s, baseball’s growing popularity coincided with the rise of mass-produced advertising. Tobacco companies like Mayo used colorful lithographs to appeal to a largely male audience, blending portraiture with sports enthusiasm. These cards helped cement baseball’s place in American culture while showcasing the technical skill of commercial printing, which allowed sharp details and vibrant colors to be reproduced affordably at scale. Today, this print belongs to the Metropolitan Museum’s Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, a renowned archive of American ephemera. Though modest in size, it offers a vivid glimpse into the early relationship between sport, commerce, and visual culture.