"The Art of Baseball" -- In Honor of MLB Opening Day

Class of 2019, Justyn Farano

MLB Opening Day is April 1st

One of the highlights of my trip to Cooperstown in July of 2019 was the art gallery, The Art of Baseball, at the Baseball Hall of Fame. My two brothers and I went to see some of our favorite players be inducted into the HOF, including of course ex-Mariner Edgar Martinez.

I purchased art prints of Ken Griffey Jr. and the Class of 2019, by the artist Justyn Farano, to hang in my office. Farano is deservedly the official artist of the Baseball HOF and also paints athletes from many sports.

You may want to revisit my post entitled, Baseball HOF 2019 Induction Trip, to get a flavor of the art we saw during our visit, including our road trip.

My HOF Collection

For this post, I am including my own Seattle Mariners HOF bobblehead collection. I'll also include baseball artwork that my brother and I have done recently.

Hawk (June 2020), Jon Patterson

My older brother does his art using Paint 3D and commemorates his favorite baseball players, placing images on t-shirts and mugs, and often frames them to hang in his own baseball shrine. Here, he got inspired to create a drawing of HOFer Andre Dawson because good figurines of this player are unavailable.

He drew the geometric background first using MS-PowerPoint to make semi-transparent triangle shapes in the Expos' colors, then converted the PPT slide to a JPG and imported it into Paint.

Here's his homage to HOFer Ken Griffey Jr. complete with the slugger's figurine displayed in front of the Wheaties cereal box. It reminds me of a futuristic painting by Marcel Duchamp or a Leroy Neiman painting the way the image on the cereal box swings through to the final pose of the figurine.

Jarred Kelenic (2021), Ken Patterson

In my Palm Springs post, I included my watercolor painting of Mariners outfielder Jarred Kelenic, 21, working out at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma last summer. I saved the photo from the Seattle Times with the intention of painting it while vacationing in California. Little did I know that Kelenic has been playing in the Bigs with the M's during Spring training in Peoria, AZ. Alas, he has currently been reassigned to the Minors. Maybe someday I'll frame it and get it signed by #10 when he gets called back up.

Thankfully, the bats cover up what would have been the star logo and the Nike swoosh. I also did not outline the letters in white on the jersey. I am happy with the way the color and the shading came out on the new Mariners jersey. It really looks like that on TV.

Kosco as an NYY
(on 8"X8" foam-backed tile),
Jon Patteson

My brother's all-time favorite baseball player is Andy Kosco, who played for several MLB teams throughout his career, including the NY Yankees. He established a friendship with Andy over the years and visits him periodically. Both my brothers follow sports, while I am mainly enthusiastic about baseball. As teenagers, we used to draw portraits of Yankee players and have them signed when they'd make appearances at local car dealerships. I particularly remember the drawing my brother made of Whitey Ford, the HOF pitcher who died in October of last year.

Lugnuts to Blue Jays, Jon Patterson

As you may have guessed, my brother has been an avid baseball fan since he could throw a baseball. As an adult, he was an announcer for 5 years on the local Lansing Community College radio station, WLNZ, when they covered 'city league baseball'. My younger brother liked to do interviews with his cassette recorder and used to imitate the NY MLB announcers like Joe Garagiola (2014 National Sportscasters and Sportswriters HOF) and Phil "The Scotter" Rizzuto (1994 Baseball HOF inductee). We had a good laugh when we saw the bovine statue at the HOF bringing to life his trademark expression, "Holy Cow!".

The Ferocity and Violent Delivery of Sandy Koufax

Another drawing from October of last year commemorates the career of Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers left-handed pitcher, Sandy Koufax. Koufax is the youngest MLB player ever elected to the Baseball HOF. I am in awe of my brother's ambition and tenacity to draw five different poses of Mr. Koufax from windup to release. Way to go, Bro!

The Hall of Famer (1996)
Leroy Neiman

Leroy Neiman's The Hall of Famer is an idealized baseball player that will remain nameless. I love it when artists use abstracted color schemes in their paintings, making them exciting and almost surreal. Here's a link to his portrait of Yankees' Reggie Jackson, Hall of Fame Day.

Smokey Joe Williams (1985),
Deryl Daniel Mackie

My favorite portrait from The Art of Baseball gallery has to be the one of Smokey Joe Williams by Deryl Daniel Mackie. I also found a wonderful website called ArtsLonga Art Cards displaying some old-fashioned baseball cards, including Joe Williams and many others. Very cool!

Kadir Nelson, author of We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, also paints portraits of Negro League greats, including Williams, Norman "Turkey" Stearns, and others.

I am also enamored by the artist Kehinde Wiley who paints large portraits with interesting patterned backgrounds. Check it out! I was privileged to see his A NEW REPUBLIC exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum in the Spring of 2016.

My brother is a member of the National Baseball HOF and often shares articles from publications he receives from the Hall. Here are two articles relating to Baseball Cartoons: Cartoon Artwork From TOPPS Cards Part of History and #SHORTSTOPS: Baseball Cartoons Tell Story of the Game's Popularity. The first article highlights the cartoons drawn on the reverse side of TOPPS baseball cards. The second relates how Looney Tunes, Charlie Brown (Peanuts), and more recently the Simpsons helped popularize our national pastime.

I dedicate this post to the Baseball HOFers who have recently passed, starting with late great slugger Hank Aaron who died January 22nd. In 2020 we lost New York Mets pitcher Tom Seaver, St. Louis Cardinals ace Bob Gibson, New York Yankees left-hander Whitey Ford, outfielder Lou Brock, and Cincinnati Reds second baseman Joe Morgan.