Coming in January: presenting to the Babe Ruth Chapter on my card paintings

As we make our way towards Christmas, thoughts turn to the impending new year, and also to the winter that we all hope will yield to a better, post-pandemic spring. As of right now,  two vaccines have been approved, and while the distribution process will probably be slow, we at least have some kind of light at the end of what's been such a long tunnel. It reminds me of what Rogers Hornsby, one of the greatest hitters in history, said about the offseason: "People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I''ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.

The pandemic time has been so challenging. All of the connections we treasure with our friends, our families, our workplaces, and the outside world are not as they typically are and a Zoom window just isn't as satisfying. 2020 was the first baseball season since I moved out of my parents' house that I didn't attend any kind of baseball game at any level, and watching games played in empty stadiums just isn't the same. 

So like many of us, I turned to old hobbies, one of which for me was collecting baseball cards. I also joined the Society for American Baseball Research, an organization for historians, analysts, and others who love everything about baseball to share research and ideas, and which celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year. I've started to get involved with their Babe Ruth (Baltimore) chapter, and with their baseball card research committee, and this fall I had the honor of presenting my research on the relationship between baseball cards and movements in art and design.

That led me to create my own interpretations of that relationship, which I've started to build in the galleries on this page. I talked about this in my last post, but now I'm also happy to note that on January 20th, I'll be talking about my work to the Babe Ruth Chapter. Further information will follow, but in the meantime please comment below or on the gallery page. I hope to see you there!