Stop Googling yourself, stop Googling yourself…

Come on, you know you do it. Everybody does it…

The first time I “discovered” myself was in an airport in Milwaukee, coming back, appropriately enough, from a SABR convention. In the time since, when I’ve Googled myself to see where mention of The Bookshelf might have appeared. I’ve discovered I share the name with a rabbi, a jazz singer, and an aviation artist and executive director of the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

Let’s focus on the last for now.

That Ron Kaplan actually has a baseball connection. And since art, in theory, qualifies as fitting on a bookshelf…

That RK discovered me by googling himself as well and sent the following email:

When I was a full-time aviation artist in the mid to late 1990s, I created a line of hand-painted aircraft aluminum panels, each autographed by the famous pilot associated with the insignia or nose-art from their aircraft adorning each. I would typically create an edition of these in the range of 10-15 per aviator. I would mount them in a hand-crafted wood shadowbox frame, with an engraved ID panel beneath.

Fortunately for me, I was able to convince Ted Williams to participate, and further found a small supply of actual scrap F9F Panther aluminum for his edition. Unfortunately, though we agreed to an edition total of 100, I did not have that much aluminum (or cash per signature, as negotiated with his son, John Henry) to have him sign all of them in the two signing sessions we had together in Ocala [Florida].

The "Splendid Splinter" meets the splendid artist

In 1998, I was offered and accepted a job at the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton. In 1999, I took time off to make what turned out to be that final signing session in Florida. While there I spoke to his son, John Henry, about having his Dad come up to Dayton in July 2000, when I had NAHF enshrinee Joe Foss come back to serve as the emcee for our annual enshrinement ceremony. I was trying to build it into the annual “Oscar Night of Aviation,” and thought reuniting these two, and possibly NAHF enshrinee John Glenn (who flew with Williams in Korean combat), would certainly be quite a show.

John Henry said OK, under two very clear conditions. 1, it had to be a secret to all, save for my essential production staff. 2, had to be private jet up on Saturday morning, the day of the enshrinement gala, and back on Sunday morning.

It actually worked like a charm…. Foss and Ted, as you likely know, went way back together. They still talk about that night here in Dayton. Glenn had to pass, however, as he was in China at the time.

I had Ted sign a total of 21 panels, and painted and sold 5 (at $1600 each) before pulling them off the market upon his passing. A local military toy and collectible store recently opened here in Dayton that has invited me to display and sell my autographed panel editions. They are encouraging me to bring back the Williams edition, citing a growing market. I think I will do it.

Anyway, thought you might find this Kaplan-to-Kaplan baseball connection of interest.