In the first of a 10-part series, the author takes an in-depth look at Major League Baseball history from 1900 to 1910.

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Since writing the opening piece (no pun intended) on puzzles, my Deadball Era opus has been framed and now stares at me in my office. I am struck by how these images from 1900 and earlier remind me of a family album.

It is easy to forget that photography was once new, and that some of our ancestors were not schooled as kids on how to pose for the camera. My deadball montage combines images from artists with those of photographers, hired by the companies who made the cards, some to help sell Mecca Cigarettes (”Perfect Satisfaction” — as if nothing could be more heavenly than puffing on tobacco while examining a sketch of Frank Chance, Chicago Nat., or Seymour, Baltimore, or Leach, Pittsburgh, Nat.

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