Review: Willie Mays: Art in the Outfield

By Mike Shannon. The University of Alabama Press, 2007

The superstar player has always been considered an artist at his craft. Now it’s time for “real” artists to return the favor. And no one makes a more appropriate subject for such treatment than Willie Mays.

This title is categorized as “Visual Arts/Sports History,” a very precise description. Mike Shannon, editor of Spitball Magazine, concisely captures the essence of the Mays biography as introdction before turning towards the graphical portrait of the (baseball) artist as a young man.

Almost three dozen men and women contributed their visual depictions to Art in the Outfield. Some are straightforward, others more abstract; all are designed to pay tribute to the Say Hey Kid.

My knowledge of art is non-existent, but, as they say, I know what I like. One in particular evokes memories of my youth: Mike Petronella’s caricature (left) of Mays as a Met recalls the work of Bruce Stark of the NY Daily News, while Ronnie Joyner’s “Scout’s Dream” is a throwback to 1940s-50s newspapers as well.

The book is the meant as a companion piece to “24 at 75,” a traveling exhibition of these pieces which made its debut in January 2006 at the Louisville Slugger Museum. Shannon, whose previous titles on the national pastime include Baseball Books: A Collector’s Guide, Diamond Classics, and Baseball: The Writer’s Game, among others, serves as the show’s curator.

In an e-mail exchange, Shannon wrote that as a life-long Mays fan, he “wanted to do something special for Willie to celebrate his 75th birthday, and thought an art show would be a unique way to make a tribute to him. I am no expert on art in general, but I know a lot about baseball art, and I have a large collection of [it].

Shannon put the exhibit together over a two-year period. “Some of the artists were personal friends, some I knew through Spitball Magazine (they had done work for us or we had featured them in our “Brushes with Baseball” column), others I had stuff from in our files, a few others I found on the Internet, and a final few were friends of friends.

Despite the obvious talent, Shannon has had difficulty booking the show; it’s had only one venue since its two-month run in Louisville. Amazingly, neither the Giants, the city of San Francisco, or the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown have expressed interest.

Tagged as: Giants, Mike Shannon, Willie Mays 24 at 75