[Boston and New York players on opening day, 1886, at the Polo Grounds, 5th Ave. & 110th St., N.Y.C. posed in front of stands; Boston player in back rowon left has his middle finger raised in obscene gesture] – Historic Reproduction
![[Boston and New York players on opening day, 1886, at the Polo Grounds, 5th Ave. & 110th St., N.Y.C. posed in front of stands; Boston player in back rowon left has his middle finger raised in obscene gesture], c1886. — historic photograph](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/e1/e1ce42879035-L.webp)
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
Few images capture their era like this historic photograph of [Boston and New York players on opening day, 1886, at the Polo Grounds, 5th Ave. & 110th St., N.Y.C. posed in front of stands; Boston player in back rowon left has his middle finger raised in obscene gesture]. Sourced directly from the Library of Congress, it represents an authentic piece of documented history.
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[Boston and New York players on opening day, 1886, at the Polo Grounds, 5th Ave. & 110th St., N.Y.C. posed in front of stands; Boston player in back rowon left has his middle finger raised in obscene gesture]
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A Boston player in the back row, on the left, raises his middle finger toward the camera, which sets this group portrait apart from the more formal team photographs of the period. The picture shows Boston and New York players posed before the stands at the Polo Grounds, the ballpark at Fifth Avenue and 110th Street in Manhattan, on what the caption describes as opening day around 1886. Photoprints like this one, copyrighted by F.L. Howe according to the record, were commonly sold as souvenirs, so the gesture reads as a rare touch of irreverence in an otherwise staged moment.
| Created / published | c1886. |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 photographic print. |
| Subjects | Photoprint copyrighted by F.L. Howe. This record contains unverified data from caption card. Caption card tracings: Geog.; Sports--Baseball; Obscenity; Ph. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,536 × 1,131 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-158750 |
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