Outstanding 14" x 17 1/2" albumen team photo of the Excelsior Base Ball Club of 1872. The photo quality is outstanding with wonderful contrast; some minor foxing is present but nothing that interferes with the aesthetic appeal of the photo. The photo comes with a heavy cardboard matte onto which "Excelsior B. B. Club 1872" is carefully written. Though the matte and photo have come apart from one another the matte is an attractive ornate one with gold leaf painted around the rim of its frame. Some minor water staining is visible on the matte itself as well as the cardboard backing but not on the photo. The "Excelsior" name was a common one among baseball teams from this era most notably the Excelsior baseball club of Brooklyn which featured Candy Cummings and Jim Creighton. That club elected not to join the first major league in 1870 electing to proudly remain an amateur team and was no longer a baseball team by the late 1870s. The team pictured in this photo is not likely to be members of the famed amateur team though they are clearly quite organized most with matching uniforms and dapper bib-style uniforms emblazoned with the Old English-style "E". A variety of baseball equipment is scattered in the foreground including several bats a baseball and on the floor several Brooklyn-style caps. An outstanding photo of a 19th Century team taken at the birth of professional baseball.