40-year-old Versions

ABC’s of Baseball: O is for Ohtani.

What a week?!?! Los Angeles kicks off in Glendale, all of kicks off these week, and 2024 Series One hits stores.

This completes my ABC’s of Baseball. Started last April with A is for Henry Aaron. 26 of them completed and posted. One baseball player to represent each letter of the alphabet. Different styles. Different kinds of stories to tell. Some about the player, some about baseball, some about pop culture, some about me.

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ABC’s of Baseball: T is for Trout, Mike TROUT, Swag TROUT, and a friend’s guitar named TROUT.

Mike Trout is Mike Trout. is - and I don’t have anything else to add to what the name and player mean to baseball alone.

Beyond that, I love when baseball reaches outside just baseball, spanning into other pieces of pop culture. I mean, named his guitar TROUT - and the phrase “Mah-TROUT-geetah” was coined a couple of Fridays ago getting ready for a My Morning Jacket concert. Because, well, just because.

ABC’s of Baseball: R is for Roberto Clemente and MLB’s Roberto Clemente Award (UPDATED)

A standing ovation for this year’s winner, Aaron Judge, founder of ... The Aaron Judge ALL RISE Foundation was founded by to “inspire youth to become responsible citizens and to encourage them to reach unlimited possibilities.” Artwork is updated now to include Aaron Judge receiving the award last night during WS G3.

The artwork features names of all 50+ years of award winners (54 in total now) since Clemente’s tragic death on December 31st, 1972. The artwork is also heavily influenced by the front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on January 2nd, 1973 announcing his death to the city of Pittsburgh and the region.

PLEASE HELP ME SHARE!! This artwork is my pride and joy of the year. I graciously appreciate any and all help to break through the algorithms and cold e-mails I’ve sent around this year to get it licensed to produce in a poster format. My full court press has passed, but I still want people to see and think about its meaning.

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ABC’s of Baseball: K is for Ken. Kens, actually. Ken Sr. and Ken Jr.

in 1990, Ken Sr. and Ken Jr. hit back-to-back homers for the in Anaheim, the first (and only) father and son to accomplish the feat.

Artwork is inspired by Shel Silverstein, a genius on many fronts. In our home, we’re going through another wave of Shel Silverstein with the kids, so I knew I had to include Shel somewhere and somehow in this series. So here it is.

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ABC’s of Baseball: L is for Lee Mazzilli and “a spectacular bar flip, decades ahead of his time” in the 1979 All-Star Game in Seattle.

Tonight’s back in Seattle featured many first-time All-Stars. Mazzilli punctuated his first All-Star Game with a game-tying HR in the Top of the 8th… and the GW RBI via a walk in the Top of the 9th.

Artwork is largely inspired by , Brad Balukjian, author of The Wax Pack book, a must-read for fans of baseball and baseball cards.

Artwork also includes Dave Parker the ‘79 ASG MVP and Gary Carter… Carter was on the receiving end of Parker’s second OF assist, a game-saving laser from RF to end the Bottom of the 8th and preserve a 6-6 tie.

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ABC’s of Baseball: Y is for Yogi, Yogi-isms, and one highly-anticipated documentary film release day.

Congrats to and and the entire team involved with the “IT AIN’T OVER” releasing today in select theaters. Early reviews and press for have been outstanding, so chat with me if you make it this weekend, too.

P.S. Yogi was born in 1923. He would be 98 years young today. A baseball legend but a lot more than just a baseball legend.

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