The Brooklyn Atlantics, 1865

Established in 1855, the Brooklyn Atlantics dominated the first decade of baseball in New York City, winning championships in 1861, 1864 and 1865, when local photographer Charles Williamson produced this remarkable team portrait.

Considered perhaps the earliest extant dated collectible baseball "card," this photographic souvenir was handed out to supporters and even opposing teams in an admirable gesture of the bravado from the brash Brooklynites.