Baseball artwork help?

[GKreindler]

Hey all,

I was interested in knowing whether any of you had any rare or odd pictures of any of the historic MLB ballparks from the first half of the 20th century (or even further back, if they exist) - especially ones which clearly depict outfield advertisements. I am especially interested in images of the Harry M. Stevens panoramic stadium shots that were auctioned off by Lelands in 1996. These photographs were used to demonstrate to advertisers the state of their scoreboard ads for a given year. The image clarity of these photos is astonishing, as they were produced from glass plate negatives. The dates depicted ranged from 1934 to 1956 I believe, and many of the MLB ballparks were depicted, including: Yankee Stadium, the Polo Grounds, Ebbets Field, Fenway, and Braves Field.

Some of these panoramics made their way onto ebay at some point (and continue to do so), and I managed to get my hands on shots of Yankee Stadium from 1936, 1947 and 1949. It was immediately after that I sold them back to collectors. Why did I do this you may ask?

If you haven't seen the thread from my good friend thekingofclout, I am an artist who specializes in painting vintage baseball scenes, most of which lie in the first half of the 20th century. Being a stickler for historical accuracy, these kinds photos are invaluable resources for my work - as they provide the exact look of stadium advertisement signs from each particular year. Though many photos exist of stadiums from these eras (especially to be found on Corbis, Getty Images, AP, etc.), it's harder to find reliable resources in regards to the stadiums from the 1930s and 1940s - which incidentally is my favorite period to depict.

Now, I've been visiting and contributing to sites like baseballfever and the PSA message boards for years now, so I'm well aware of the the photos in their various threads, so I was hoping to find some new material. I am not into the collectibility aspect of them, as I make high quality photocopies of the images to keep for myself. What I ask of you fellows, is whether you own or have access to photographs such as these. I wouldn't necessarily be interested in buying any of them per se, but would most certainly love to arrange for high quality scans/photocopies of the panoramics to be made if anyone was willing to do so. I would certainly pay for the materials, time spent, and if desired, would be happy to provide prints of my artwork for compensation.

I have enclosed a scan of one of the Harry M. Stevens photographs I speak of, as well as some examples of my artwork (more can be found at www.graigkreindler.com). If anyone can help out in anyway, please feel free to contact me via email/PM/phone/smoke signal.

Thanks!

Graig
gkreindler@gmail.com
http://www.graigkreindler.com

[Kawika]

Graig: I had a look at your website. You got serious skills. I particularly like the Larsen painting. I sat in that ballyard at least fifty times from 1956 to 1961 when I was growing up around NYC. My memories have been corrupted after a fashion by all the black and white photography I have seen in the interim but the warm October glow and afternoon shadows that you have depicted, that you have nailed, bring it all back in dreamy color. Thanks from an old man. Also think The Beast Bangs Gomez, Yanks is brilliant. You could hate baseball and still love that picture.




Here are some random photos that I have found on the Web. If any of these might be useful to you let me know and I can e-mail you larger files.

Polo Grounds, 1912 WS


Crosley Field, 1929


Ebbets Field, 1920 WS


Ebbets Field, 1955 WS


Polo Grounds, 1913 WS


Yankee Stadium, 1930's


Yankee Stadium, 1920's

[Jay Wolt]

Don't have anything to add, but what a great thread.
Greg - glad you are using your skills on this then seascapes.
David - cool shots of old parks

[drc]

Graig, those paintings are really something and it was a pleasure to view them. You have paintbrush talent coupled with a fine aesthetic perspective. I agree that the colorful backgrounds ad signs add to the scenes

[GKreindler]

Kawika - Thanks SO much for those compliments. Coming from someone who was actually at Yankee Stadium in those glory years and actually saw these things in living color, it's really heart-warming to hear that I got it right. Those photos that you sent are wonderful as well, and I appreciate you taking the time to do so. I actually have all of them in my files, but man, one has to marvel at the sheer artistry of these ballparks. The Polo Grounds from the 1910s is just so majestic. Though I'm a life-long Yankee fan and this might be blasphemous, I think I'd take that old Polo Grounds frieze over the one in old Yankee Stadium (don't kill me).

I feel like the hardest thing for me to do is to bring these black & white memories into the color realm, especially since I'm so far removed from that era of baseball (I'm only 29 years old). I try my best not to make Ted Turner colorized versions of the images, but to actually instill the intangible things to the paintings: the quality of light, temperature, wind conditions, crowd noise, cigar smoke, etc. I guess it's more about making them true to life, rather than photographic. Hopefully it's something I'll be able to get perfect before I leave this earth.

Jay Wolt - Looking at these images of bleachers filled with people on white shirts or straw hats really adds to that seascape feeling. Sometimes I have to stop working just to keep myself from getting nauseous. But really, thanks for the compliment!

drc - Thank you for the nice comments. I really agree with you about those advertisements - I feel like they add so much color to those old fields, and really gives them a sense of place in time. I find it unlikely that one would be able to find five Gem razors for 25 cents these days...

[slidekellyslide]

Great stuff Graig! I especially like that painting of Williams crossing home plate.