Big-League Teams, Hall-Of-Fame Players and Private Collectors Look
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FEATURE Baseball time machines Big-league teams, BY CHARLOTTE PRONG PARKHILL League Baseball, Wrigley Field didn’t get hall-of-fame players PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATHEW MCCARTHY lights until 1988. The team only played and private collectors ean Kane vividly remembers his first day games. visit to Wrigley Field, home of his “I grew up a Cubs fan. I used to watch the look to Sean Kane beloved Chicago Cubs. The stadium, games at my grandparent’s house,” he says, to capture their in the heart of the North Side, is of those kindergarten afternoons. Ssurrounded by pavement. “That was my baseball afternoon love love of the game “Then you walk up the steps and it’s this affair, on grandma’s floor, watching the emerald green field that just blows you Cubs, drawing pictures.” away. It’s overwhelming because of the Kane didn’t imagine that as an adult, he’d contrast. That feeling – it’s so cool. I fell in find his own place in baseball, as an artist love with the game at that age – five, six sought after for his rich portraits of players, years old,” he says. painted on gloves matching those from the In what now seems like a charming time period in which they played. But his holdout from the big business of Major joyful and pure enthusiasm for the game, Whether depicting the story of ‘Casey at the Bat’ or honouring the legacy of ‘Yogi’ Berra or Minnie Minoso, artist Sean Kane tracks down gloves from the appropriate era to use as his canvases. 90 GRAND MARCH I APRIL 2019 MARCH I APRIL 2019 GRAND 91 his curiosity for its history, and his talent for me. It quickly snowballed,” Kane says. and incorporates his findings into the final Game’ is from Indianapolis.” as a successful illustrator led to what now “To get in front of baseball people and get piece – a typeface from the 1930s, a stripe Kane has been slowly acquiring gloves seems an almost pre-ordained path. the thumbs up was pretty exciting.” that matches one found on a uniform, a that will be used to reflect these stories, From his Guelph home-based art boxscore from a significant game. some of them more than a century old. studio, surrounded by vintage gloves, art rom researchers and club profession- “My approach is that these gloves act There’s one glove from 1908 – it’s almost supplies, and books about baseball, he als to current and former players and as time machines for me to transport the completely flat and not padded, like a regularly works with major-league teams Fdedicated fans, the baseball industry viewer to whenever that player played,” glorified gardening glove – but it has a and high-end collectors. His paintings has a small-town feel. Through word-of- Kane says. richness and a history and vintage charm have been exhibited at the Negro Leagues mouth and recommendations, Kane’s work The entire process, from research to that almost can’t be captured in a photo- Baseball Museum in Kansas City and at the quickly became sought after. design, painting and framing, can take graph. Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art in He has visited 17 major-league stadiums, anywhere from 60 to 120 hours. As he prepares for the Butler exhibit, he’s Tulsa, Okla. sometimes participating in events and Paint can’t be removed from a glove, also still working on commissions. Kane Recently, Kane’s phone rang and he found presentations of his work. Commissioned so Kane starts by creating a sketch on a has built a reputation as a collaborative himself talking to one of his favourite portraits include three-time Gold Glove computer. The main portrait is usually a artist, taking the lead with his artistic vision hall-of-famers, former Montreal Expo Andre winner Shane Victorino and hall of famer photo reference, but he draws each of the but ensuring the piece reflects the specific Dawson. Jim Thome of the Philadelphia Phillies; other design elements – typeface, banners memories and desires of the buyer. “He called me. I just about fell off my famed Baltimore Oriole Cal Ripken Jr., and flags – by hand, then scans them and Jonathan Cole, an African American chair. He played for the Cubs when I was in whose image is painted on an actual golden places them into the sketch. architect from Kansas City, Missouri, is one high school. He won his MVP award there. glove as a fundraiser for his charitable When working with a client, he can go of those clients. His firm, Pendulum Studio, Kind of a big deal!” says Kane, who created foundation; and a portrait of Houston through a few variations before settling on a has designed 26 minor-league baseball a commissioned portrait for the eight-time Astros great Jeff Bagwell that was presented final design. Then each of the elements are stadiums. He has purchased two of Kane’s all-star. as a 50th birthday gift from a friend. painstakingly hand-painted on the gloves. pieces and says he is considering a third. Kane’s unusual career began when he Ted Williams’ daughter purchased a glove Kane says clients typically pay $3,200 to “What Sean’s work allows us to do is tell painted a cartoonish image of a ballgame on celebrating “The Kid,” with a .406 batting $3,500 US per painted glove. an interesting story,” Cole says. an old glove and wore it in the stands during average for the Boston Red Sox, and asked Cole first met the artist the year Kane a spring training game in 2001. People loved that a red number 9 be added to the simple ane is gearing up to put together his showed up at baseball’s winter meetings. it – and Padres player Tony Gwynn signed but intense portrait. biggest historical research and art Cole was there with Buck O’Neil, a Negro it – but the idea gestated for 10 years while Kane also carves out time to work on Kproject to date – an exhibit in 2020 League player with the Kansas City he worked as an illustrator for magazines, projects that feel personally meaningful that will hang at his alma mater, Butler Monarchs and the first African American newspapers and design agencies, with that to him, ones that often manifest as simple University in Indianapolis. coach in the major leagues, and Bob first glove hanging in his office. black-and-white portraits on vintage The project will allow him to explore and Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Then kids came along, the publishing gloves. Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio, painted on share the cultural influence of the sport Baseball Museum. industry changed, and Kane was looking a signature-model DiMaggio glove from beyond Major League Baseball, one that “Buck O’Neil was such a quiet presence for ways to stay busy as his client base the 1940s, was recently snapped up by a includes women, a rag-tag third league, and an icon,” Cole says, and he wanted that shifted. He painted a realistic portrait of folk-art collector who wants first dibs on and the groundbreaking work of the Negro reflected in a portrait glove. Jackie Robinson, the first African American Kane’s next vintage piece. League. “Sean curated my thoughts,” Cole says. major league player, and cold emailed a That glove will likely feature Babe Ruth. The state of Indiana doesn’t have a major- “I’m incredibly impressed with his skill. photo of it to baseball executive Dan Evans, Kane has been waiting years for just the league ball team, but it has a rich baseball And as a designer – the ability to listen and who worked for the Los Angeles Dodgers at right glove – a left-hander from the 1920s history, Kane says. In the All-American the collaboration between us – he’s an artist the time. that’s a close match for one of Ruth’s real Girls Professional Baseball League – like the with a specific focus, and he’s at the top of Evans loved it, so Kane took a risk and gloves, seen in the Hall of Fame in Cooper- movie “A League of Their Own” – Indiana his game.” turned up, uninvited, to the 2012 winter stown, N.Y. – and he finally has it. had two teams. There was a Federal League Dr. William Greenhill of Union, Ky., has baseball meetings in Nashville. He brought For these special vintage gloves, “I don’t for a couple of years, around 1914; and decorated his pediatric dental office with a three completed portrait gloves – the want them to be (cluttered) like the back the Indiana Hoosiers were the national baseball theme. After seeing Kane’s three- Jackie Robinson, Ernie Banks, and Hank of a baseball card. I want there to be some collegiate champions. glove piece depicting the story of “Casey at Greenberg. breathing room, some room for curiosity. “The 100th anniversary of the Negro the Bat,” Greenhill commissioned Kane to Footwear Handbags Accessories “Within 48 hours there was an article on Who’s this guy? Maybe I’ll go look him up.” League’s very first game is the month create a similar piece, painted across four NBC Sports, ESPN. I was up all night Kane sources his gloves from a few antique that my exhibit is going to open, and it gloves, because he has such vivid childhood 42 Wyndham St N answering phone calls and emails, just from dealers and sometimes scours eBay. He also happened in Indianapolis. The guy who memories of the poem.