* Time marches on

So many calendars, so little time.

(Hmm.)

Picked up a day-by-day calendar for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum for the new year. I usually have a problem keeping up with the task of tearing off that one page, but with this one, it’s all I can do to keep from sneaking a peek ahead.

I had the opportunity to talk about the arduous process of putting the calendar together with Nick Soloway, a production designer at Sellers Publishers. Sellers puts together more than 180 monthly and page-a-day time keepers each year.

Soloway gave me a bit of background about his pet project, produced in conjunction with the Hall.

“Sellers Publishing produced its first wall calendar in 1999, and added a daily/page-a-day format in 2007,” he wrote in an e-mail exchange. “From the beginning, we have always relied on the Museum’s input and suggestions.

“The concept we envisioned was a ‘memorabilia-collage’ shot of the individual players. We also added some historical, team, and World Series features.
Once we come up with a list of prospective players and features, we rely on the Hall’s excellent archive department to research available materials.

“I have been fortunate to go to Cooperstown each year for the annual photo shoot and work with their staff photographer and others to create the shots. Basically, my job is to set up and layout the collage of materials (wearing white gloves, of course!) It’s a real honor and pleasure for me.”

The typical shoot lasts two-three days,but Soloway and his colleagues don’t get the nickel tour (actually $16.50 for adults, $11 for seniors, and $6 for kids up to 12; with discounts available). They get a chance to go behind the scenes. In addition to the extensive artifacts storage, they have another section of photos and programs, etc., all organized and identified. They are pretty much the Smithsonian of sports museums!… There’s also an extensive digital archive.” A good thing, too. A 12-month calendar gets by with just a dozen photos. But the page-a-day requires a lot for items, a lot more patience, and more attention to detail.

“This is really a whole different production challenge for us,” Soloway wrote. “In addition to the large, complex shots from the wall, this format is great for showing smaller and more detailed items, like tickets, programs, baseball cards, etc. Of course the challenge is to come up with 300-plus images [for] the sheer volume of imagery needed. We can’t help but repeat some main player images from year to year. After over ten years of calendars, we are ‘running out’ of approved players who have available material. To keep an influx of new material each year, we’re featuring more rare and unusual artifacts. In 2008, to commemorate the old Yankee Stadium, I asked the folks at the Museum to research that whole history.”

But even that kind of access doesn’t guarantee total inclusion. “The daily calendar will include just about all the Hall of Famers that we have license for,” he noted. “There is still a block of elite players who have prohibitively costly licensing fees, and we can’t show their image or likeness (although we are allowed to show a Babe Ruth “jersey”). For the approved Hall of Famers, we’ll show a few successive pages: collage shot, plaque, BB cards….”

The calendar features a wide assortment of players, teams, and memorabilia, as well as trivia and facts pages. The current edition starts with several pages devoted to 2005 inductee Ryne Sandberg. “We decided it was better to keep the individual players’ items together, instead of scattered throughout. And remember, I did that photo shoot in the fall of 2008. It often takes a few years for the Museum to acquire approval rights to show players image and materials, so Ryne was one of the newest players for us.”

After the photo shoot, Jim Gates, the Library Director, works with his staff to write the text copy that goes in the wall calendar. The staff is also priceless in researching a variety of identification dates and facts. We also send them — and Major League Baseball — a set color proofs for review and approval. So while the shoot takes a few days, it’s really weeks and weeks of production on our end.”

“There are three designers on staff, although I daresay I handle the production/design work myself on the Baseball titles (with lots of editorial help!).

“We have over 180 calendars, with a huge variety of titles. The Baseball one is one of our most unique, and my personal favorite”