Baseball Art: New Don Hamerman Baseball Image

20x200 is offering their latest editions in Don Hamerman's series of found baseballs.

Shallow Left Center

No. 46

Check out the other Hamerman images here: http://www.20x200.com/artists/don-hamerman.html

The Latest Baseball Related Work from 20x200

I've mentioned 20x200 in the past as a great source for artwork in general but also for their excellent selection of baseball related prints and photos. Another was released this week entitled An Inability to Shake the Feeling of Running the Wrong Way into the Unknown, by Colin Blakely. The ball field is in Ann Arbor, MI - a town I haven't been to in 20 years (last time was to watch my Illini take on the Wolverines at the Big House). As always, there are various sizes to choose from and each is signed and numbered by the artist.

Stadium Used: Rebel Oakes

Thought I’d share the birthday gift my family gave me for my 40th last October. The Redbird Club is an excellent place to watch the Redbirds at Busch. The Club provides an air conditioned break from the summer heat and a variety of made to order food items that are not available elsewhere in the stadium. Its walls are adorned with large scale images of vintage baseball cards, primarily from the tobacco era.
I saw this Rebel Oakes artwork in the Cardinals Authentics store while walking around the stadium with Isaac. It’s the wall art of the Rebel Oakes T205 card from the Redbird Club in the stadium. I’ve seen posters of this card on the internet, usually side by side with the back of the card, but they can’t compare with “stadium used” art peeled off the wall. Its too bad portions of the image were cut off but they contribute to the "stadium used" aspect. This Mr. Oakes may been replaced with a newer, cleaner copy in the Redbird Club but I’m happy to have him at our house.
Check out the view to get a better idea of the size and scale of the club and the images on the wall.
 

Don Hamerman: Sewanee No. 17

Another baseball season is upon us which means, along with the Cardinals in 1st place, the arrival of the latest Don Hamerman image in his Found Baseballs series at 20x200. Sewanee No. 17 is now available for purchase to commemorate Earth Day as well as the new season.

As with all 20x200 art prints & photographs, Sewanee No. 17 is available in signed, limited numbered editions. Enjoy!

More Baseball Art from 20x200

I’ve written about the occasional baseball related art available from 20x200 in the past: Don Hammerman’s Baseball Series and the Babe In the Negroe Leagues. They released another piece last fall, In The Ballpark by Tatsuro Kiuchi.

Being the OC type, I ordered it and have grown to appreciate it over the last few months. The picture reminds me of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe: just the solitary outfielder among faceless spectators. Will he catch it for the team or maybe drop it on purpose to spite them? Or, maybe I'm reading too much into it. Regardless, I love the sparseness of the piece. No umpires, no teammates, no billboards!

As with other 20x200 artwork, these come in various sizes - each in a limited edition and signed by the artist. I can't wait to see what they may have for Opening Day 2010!

Live: New Don Hamerman Baseball Images

Two new Don Hamerman images are now available at 20x200!

I've posted about his baseball photographs before: http://ikescards.blogspot.com/2009/02/don-hamerman-found-baseballs.html and his work graces the cover of Ron Darling's new book: http://www.20x200.com/blog/2009/04/catching-up-with-don-hammerman.html

Hurry! These are limited production and go VERY quickly. It looks like 20x200 recognized Hamerman's images and extended production to 720 copies between the three sizes instead of the usual 222. Don't let that fool you though. The small sizes have sold out in a matter of hours when his other editions went live.

Rawlings



Thread 2


Images: http://www.20x200.com/

Just bought mine... and to top it all off just got free tickets to tonight's Cardinal game!

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with 20x200 aside from being a huge fan of their concept and offerings. I also cannot guarantee free MLB tickets will magically appear should you purchase either or both of these prints.

Shades Of Greatness

Postcard from Shades of Greatness: Art Inspired by Negro Leagues Baseball, a traveling exhibit presented by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum which visited St. Louis earlier this year.

Image: Kadir Nelson, “Low and Away” (Click on image for larger image)

Mr. Nelson’s art can also be found in his book, “We Are The Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball.” Click on the bookcover on the right to view a slideshow of images in the book. While its targeted towards younger readers, the stories, paintings & illustrations make this book HIGHLY recommended for baseball fans of any age.

Tiny Art for ‘08 Wee Bears

Here’s some baseball art for the unfortunate Cubs fan. These 4x6 note cards from Octavine Illustration depict three infielders from the 1908 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs: Joe Tinker to Johnny Evers to Frank Chance. The seller also has hand painted Moleskine notebooks, my notebook / journal of choice, of generic Detroit Tigers from the 1920’s.

Don Hamerman: Found Baseballs

Everyone owes it to themselves to view Don Hamerman’s photographs of baseballs in various states of disintegration.

From the artist:

”I began collecting these baseballs in the winter of 2004-2005. Discovered in the park near my house where I walk my dog daily, they went unnoticed by others. Abject, rejected and forlorn, their state depended on the season of their discovery. Some hid in the high grass, gutted by lawnmowers, or under leaves, rotting, the leather skins long since decomposed. Covered in ice crystals on a February morning or shrouded in summer moss, they all hinted at mysterious pasts.”

Check out this Hamerman interview on 20x200 for more background.

I was fortunate enough to grab these before they sold out… and the small sizes sell out very quickly. I’m hoping they offer more from this series this spring… maybe another double header on Opening Day? Oh yeah, like all 20x200 editions the “base” is numbered to 200, with larger editions numbered to 20 and 2.

Hemi

Mossball

Stricken

Untitled (Elephant)

The Babe In The Negro Leagues

Another opportunity to combine my interests in art and baseball on this blog. This print by Mark Ulriksen was from a 2008 World Series double header on 20x200, an online art gallery / blog offering affordable prints, photographs, and originals in limited editions. This one is numbered 33 / 200! Perfect!

From the artist:

“The Babe in the Negro Leagues is a personal piece. I took the opportunity to portray one of my baseball heroes in a setting I also enjoy, the advertising-cluttered outfield fences at stadiums of yore. The hand-painted quality of the old typography in the signage is somehow more authentic and attractive than anything one sees today.

While the Babe barnstormed the world in the off-season and played one of his last games against the New York Cubans of the Negro Leagues, this portrait is purely hypothetical.”

The second half of the twin bill: Stars and Stripes. Numbered 198/200.

Ease His Pain

An interesting story showing how baseball can work itself into our daily lives, seeping into our subconscious, and briefly weaving through the lives of three strangers.

Early last fall, I discovered the work of Mark Penxa, specifically his series depicting images inspired by baseball: Stealing Signs, Dead-ball Era Baseball, Memories From My Last Life; 1927. I remember viewing the collection online, noting which of the 100 images depicted St. Louis Cardinals & Browns, and asking my wife which I should order for my office or Isaac’s room. And then, of course, I completely forgot to order. Actually, I forgot about the works entirely, blissfully unaware that the images were quickly selling out: these were all 1/1’s.

Fast forward to last week. I signed Isaac up for a 2008 Heroes Box at Jawdys Basement hoping for the Cardinals, or at least cards he can trade for Cardinals. What we got was so much more. After a lackluster break (just Mets colored parallels), we received two offers for “shared” hits: Dave at Fielder’s Choice offered to give us the shared hit outright while Ernest at Blue Heaven offered the shared hit for a small trade. One thing leading to another, we settled on another side trade: his Cardinals for our Dodgers. More on that later… noting only that Ernest mentioned a Grover Alexander card he was sending our way.

I flew to Guadalajara on Monday, an adventure in and of itself: late connections, arriving at my gate at O'Hare while the doors were literally closing, and discovering my bags had not made it with me to Mexico. After the Monday chaos, a full workload on Tuesday, and a night of Paloma’s waiting for me Tuesday evening, something triggered memories of Stealing Signs that afternoon. I grabbed my Blackberry, eventually found Mark’s site, and after a few technical difficulties, inquired about a piece I wanted all those months ago: Untitled #003:

Amazingly, the piece was still available and I pestered Mark for payment information to ensure I would be the eventual owner. Unbeknownst to me, Mark had recently learned of a close friend’s death and I felt horrible for my “just making sure you got my message” email. I apologized as clumsily through email as I would have in person. Mark assured me it was no trouble and actually shared a few details of his loss. It turns out the gentleman who inspired Stealing Signs passed away earlier on Tuesday: I asked about 003 a few hours later. He thought it was great that someone asked about the series on the day of his passing, asked to re-enable the web presentation, and purchased a print from the series.

Emboldened by coincidence, I asked who, if anyone, was depicted in 003. I did a quick check on baseball reference sites for the 1927 Cardinals roster but nothing stood out. I boarded my flight home none the wiser. Later that afternoon, I saw that Mark had replied back: the player was Grover Alexander. When I got home, Isaac was excited to open the box that had arrived earlier and inside, among some great 80’s / 90’s era Cardinals and a Lou Brock pin was a Grover Alexander card. Ernest had included a 1950 Grover Alexander Callahan card (he had to tell me, I have no clue on these things).

Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.

Foot note: Looking through Isaac’s cards, I think the artwork is probably based on the photo from these Conlon cards. The 48 marks above his left shoulder probably correspond to Alexander’s 48 strikeouts in 1927.

More on baseball related artwork in February and leading up to opening day. Don’t forget to check out Stealing Signs online. Its an amazing series of works and who knows, maybe one you like will be one of the few still available.