Goudey Question: Why Is Ruth on the Mound?

[robw1959]

Originally Posted by BobC

Are you sure that is a pitching mound? Doesn't, and never, looked like it to me. Always thought it was maybe supposed to be like an on-deck area, sort of as in the above photo someone posted that shows the actual photo supposedly used as a basis for the image on the Goudey card. In fact, I would think that swinging a bat on a mound could actually be dangerous. With the normal stride one takes when swinging, your front foot could come down on a strange angle or an uneven area of the mound, and actually cause a fall or maybe even worse. Also, if that is supposed to be a mound, where's the pitching rubber? And lastly, if it was a mound, wouldn't the main shadow show more of a curvature and drop-off at the edge. It actually looks more like he's standing in a somewhat squared area of sand/dirt, not a mound at all.

Maybe so, maybe so. That way, the Goudey artist was free to create any background that would evoke being in a ballpark, including a colorful outfield fence replete with advertising banners. Makes sense to me.