The awesomely weird art of 1800s baseball photography

 In the late 1800s, baseball players didn't have the luxury of high-tech cameras to capture their in-game bravado. Instead, players would sometimes pose with imperceptibly hung baseballs in portrait studios.



This bit of camera legerdemain was supposed to make players appear as if they were furiously concentrating on America's pastime. More often than not, this trick made the athletes look like telekinetic popinjays with fantastic mustaches.