Art Inside and Outside the Ballpark

Portrait within Seattle Times Pic

The Seattle Mariners

In honor of a great season of Seattle Mariners baseball I am posting about the artwork inside and outside of T-Mobile Park. As game #162 could be the last time we see third-baseman Kyle Seager play baseball as a Mariner, let's take another look at his portrait painted by artist Jeff "Weirdo" Jacobson for the 2018 Mariners Care Auction. I actually pasted the portrait inside 3rd base in a recent photo from the Seattle Times. Taking away 3rd base is hardly consolation for 10 years of Mariners baseball, though hopefully it means something to him and his family.

Edgar (2021), Lou Cella

Outside the park there is the newly installed statue of HOFer Edgar Martinez. It joins the one at the main entrance to T-Mobile Park dedicated to Ken Griffey Jr. Let's also not forget The Mitt, by Gerald Tsutakawa. These and others also appear in my recent post entitled, Edgar Statue, HOFers Murals, and Other Ballpark Art. I took this image from the Seattle Times and cropped it to use on my phone's lock screen. The tarp makes it look like the figure is emerging from a block of stone.

Other Large Art Installations

I also love all of the steel cutout figures of player silhouettes attached to the gates and fences around the outside of the stadium. One of our neighborhood playing fields has been decorated with figures representing multiple sports. My favorite has to be the fences and gates surrounding the city dog park in Palm Springs, CA. Dog faces and figures are actually incorporated into the structure created by sculptor Phill Evans.

Neon scribbles by Cerith Wyn Evans

I appreciate the large installations like the The Tempest that hangs in the main concourse at the Home Plate Gate. The centerpiece of the rotunda includes translucent baseball bats "molded of resin and mounted on brushed aluminum spiraling forms". See the Art-in-the-Park link at the top of this post. I am equally impressed when I find other modern installations like the neon light sculpture hanging in London's Tate Britain entrance.

Entrance to Vigeland Sculpture Park, Oslo

I'm not going to show the nude male figures sculpted in wrought iron on one of the gates in Oslo, Norway's Vigeland Sculpture Park. However, I certainly can show the intricate park entrance. Not a baseball park, but equally impressive iron work and tons of sculptures inside the park!

Brandenburg Gate w/ Quadriga, J.G. Schadow

Speaking of gates, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany is also impressive. We luckily got to visit it while on our cruise to seven countries (including Norway) along the Baltic Sea. Atop the structure you can see the sculpture by Johann Gottfried Schadow. Quadriga is a chariot drawn by four horses and driven by Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory. How 'bout that Mariners victory against the A's on 27 September! They actually beat Oakland 12 games in a row.

More Baseball Tributes

Cal Ripken in Wax

While visiting the Baseball HOF in Cooperstown, NY in July 2019 for the induction of Edgar Martinez, we saw lots of great baseball art. Here in the doorway of the Heroes of Baseball Wax Museum is a figure of Cal Ripken. We didn't actually go inside the museum and I am certain there was much more art to be seen outside of the HOF itself and in the surrounding town. Maybe someday there will be a similar tribute to Kyle Seager!

Babe Ruth & Ted Williams, Baseball HOF

My favorite sculpture inside the HOF is the side-by-side life-size basswood figures of Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. The artist, Armand LaMontagene, hit this one out of the park!

Babe & Ted

Closeup of Ted & Babe

Gehrig, Robinson, and Clemente

These three HOF celebrities -- Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, and Roberto Clemente -- were immortalized together inside the hall in 2008 with bronze statues by sculptor, Stanley Bleifeld.

Kyle Seager has been deservedly nominated  for the 2021 Roberto Clemente Award.