Ballpark Statues:

[clydepepper]

With my attention to the new Hall-of-Famers, I was surprised to see that Harold Baines had a statue.

I, then, decided to search for images of other Ballpark Statues. In doing so, I finally saw the unusual statues outside National's Park.



I recall the Astros erecting statues of both Biggio and Bagwell at the same time, and then, IMO, sweating out Bagwell's delayed election.



Now, I realize that you don't have to be a Hall-of-Famer to have a statue made of you and displayed outside a stadium, but I do wonder:

1.) What do you think of the statues that are currently displayed around the Majors either at the ballpark or located in close proximity?

2.) What's your opinion of the type 'motion' art-style used in the Walter Johnson, Josh Gibson and Frank Howard statues in Washington?

3.) Which statue currently displayed is your favorite?

4.) Whose statue would you like to see added to the current group.

HAROLD BAINES with Statue.jpg

WALTER JOHNSON STATUE at Nationals Park.jpg

[frankbmd]

1. Statuesque.

2. Never knew Wajo had four arms.

3. Lambeau Field (a curve ball) features Lambeau and Lombardi

4. Mike Trout and Tim Salmon in an aquarium.

[dgo71]

Having seen the statues at Nationals Park up close and in person, I found them to be quite offputting. The Clemente and Stargell statues at the Pirates stadium are iconic.

[clydepepper]

Can anyone identify these players?


@ StL
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@ Philly?
Yphilly6.jpg

@StL?
Yst-louis-missouri-mo-usa-busch-stadium-home-of-st-louis-baseball-team-A5C82N.jpg

Z7.jpg

must be @ Tex
Z4.jpg

[BearBailey]

The statues at Camden yards are all great, palmers leg kick, Brooks stretched out as the human vacuum cleaner. Most stadiums have impressive statues, I am not a fan of those at the Nationals.

[The-Cardfather]

[QUOTE=clydepepper;1835578
1.) What do you think of the statues that are currently displayed around the Majors either at the ballpark or located in close proximity?

3.) Which statue currently displayed is your favorite?
[/QUOTE]


I don't know if I have a favorite, but I do have a least favorite (AKA: The Worst). It's the Ralph Kiner statue on display at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. (I guess they only had enough money for the artist to sculpt just his hands.

[steve B]

My favorite is only sort of at a ballpark.

Cy Young at the location of the pitchers mound Huntington Avenue Grounds.
On the campus of Northeastern University.

[gonzo]

1.) What do you think of the statues that are currently displayed around the Majors either at the ballpark or located in close proximity?

Fewer is better - I’d rather see 3 or 4 historically-important figures than 9 or 10 fan favorites.


2.) What's your opinion of the type 'motion' art-style used in the Walter Johnson, Josh Gibson and Frank Howard statues in Washington?

Not fond of them, though I can kind of see why someone thought it would be cool.


3.) Which statue currently displayed is your favorite?

As a Cubs fan myself, it has to be the Harry Caray statue outside Wrigley, for a couple of reasons:

- people keep putting cans of Budweiser in Harry’s outstretched hand, which seems natural to me.

- if you look near his feet, you’ll see what I can only imagine is a statement on the “middle century” of Cubs history - the souls of generations of Cubs fans, trapped in cheerful despair.


4.) Whose statue would you like to see added to the current group.

It’s not practical, but a statue of Connie Mack sitting in the Athletics dugout for all time would make me smile.

[clydepepper]

I believe the first two are located in St. Louis, the third one in Philadelphia, and the last one in Texas.

Anyone recognize them? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Majestic]

The first photo (closeup of face) is Rogers Hornsby

[Majestic]

Dizzy Dean (outside Busch Stadium)
"The Batter" by Joe Brown (formerly outside Veterans Stadium in Philly)
Neftali Feliz hugging Bengie Molina after 2010 ALCS (Outside Arlington Stadium)

[Majestic]

The leaping player is Al Kaline in Comerica Park (the photo is reversed its a mirror image)

[commishbob]

Here are a few I've taken pics of. First four are from Baltimore obviously. Of the six the O's have out in the plaza these are my favorites.

IMG_2641.jpg

IMG_2638.jpg

IMG_2671.jpg

IMG_2676.jpg

These are from a Christmas/New Years trip to Chicago. It was twice as cold as it looks.

Chicago 018.jpg

Chicago 012.jpg

And finally from our 2016 Chicago trip. I failed to take pics of all the ones at the new Comiskey (or whatever it's called) but this is my favorite ballpark statue. My man, Billy Pierce. This was less than a year after his passing and was bittersweet to finally see it in person.


20160612_171209287_iOS.jpg

[clydepepper]

Thanks to all for all the ID help - I can always depend of you guys!

Bob- I'm a big fan of Billy Pierce too! I think he and Minnie both out to be HOFers.

Pierce is the answer to one of my favorite trivia questions:

Who was the only pitcher to record an ERA less than 2.00 during the 1950s?



The detail of that particular statue is amazing.

Did you get to meet Billy?

[commishbob]

Originally Posted by clydepepper

Thanks to all for all the ID help - I can always depend of you guys!

Bob- I'm a big fan of Billy Pierce too! I think he and Minnie both out to be HOFers.

Pierce is the answer to one of my favorite trivia questions:

Who was the only pitcher to record an ERA less than 2.00 during the 1950s?



The detail of that particular statue is amazing.

Did you get to meet Billy?

Thanks Robbie

No, sadly I never got to meet BP. I did corespondent with him a few times. I sent him photos of my Pierce PC and he answered questions I had. From all I have ever heard he was a very nice man.

[egri]

Originally Posted by commishbob

Thanks Robbie

No, sadly I never got to meet BP. I did corespondent with him a few times. I sent him photos of my Pierce PC and he answered questions I had. From all I have ever heard he was a very nice man.

I wrote to him in September 2014 for my project, less than a year before he died. He was very gracious, signing and returning very quickly. I agree with Raymond that he should be in Cooperstown.

[clydepepper]

The statues at Target Field are really well done:

CAREW1.jpgCAREW2.jpg

CAREW3.jpg

KILLEBREW1.jpgKILLEBREW2.jpg

OLIVA1.jpgOLIVA2.jpg

[glenv]

I like the statues around stadiums, except the "motion" ones. Here's a couple at the Brickyard in OK City honoring players who grew up in Oklahoma.

bench.jpg mantle.jpg

[Big Six]

A couple of my favorites...






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CobbSpikedMe]

My best friend sculpted this Ted Williams statue that is outside of Fenway.


.

[barrysloate]

MCU Park, home of the Class A Brooklyn Cyclones (NY Mets), has a wonderful bronze statue of Pee Wee Reese with his arm around Jackie Robinson's shoulder. I don't have a picture of it but maybe someone else does. I make sure to pass it every time I go to a Cyclone's game.

[Jim65]

Not baseball but my fave is the statue outside the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ of Marty Brodeur

[CobbSpikedMe]

Originally Posted by Jim65

Not baseball but my fave is the statue outside the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ of Marty Brodeur

That is a thing of beauty Jim.

[Jim65]

Originally Posted by CobbSpikedMe

That is a thing of beauty Jim.

It sure is.

[icollectDCsports]

The in-motion statues at Nationals Park are absolutely horrendous. A real disservice to Walter Johnson, Josh Gibson, and Frank Howard. So terrible that they were relocated from the outfield plaza to a less prominent spot.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.4e9914a88486

[BaseballGM]

Originally Posted by icollectDCsports

The in-motion statues at Nationals Park are absolutely horrendous. A real disservice to Walter Johnson, Josh Gibson, and Frank Howard. So terrible that they were relocated from the outfield plaza to a less prominent spot.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.4e9914a88486

Frank won't say a bad word about anyone or anything, but as a close personal friend of his, he does shake his head about this.

[maniac_73]

Originally Posted by CobbSpikedMe

My best friend sculpted this Ted Williams statue that is outside of Fenway.


.

Seriously?! Thats my favourite statue and was going to post it when I saw this thread. Very cool!

[CobbSpikedMe]

Originally Posted by maniac_73

Seriously?! Thats my favourite statue and was going to post it when I saw this thread. Very cool!

That's awesome that you really like that sculpture. His name is Kevin Malko and we grew up across the street from each other in Jersey. I'm jealous of him for making a living with his art. He's very talented though so he deserves all his success.

[tachyonbb]

This is the Road to Omaha statue outside T D Ameritrade Park in Omaha. It was done by John Labja, a local artist. It was originally in front of Rosenblatt. A smaller version is given the the most valuable player in the CWS.
I have known John for a lot of years. He also does the Harley Earl replica for the Daytona 500 champion and did the Dale Earnhardt statue outside the race track.

[guy3050]

In front of the Olympic stadium Home of the Montreal Expos

dscf8255 by Guy Bourque, on Flickr

[The-Cardfather]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

MCU Park, home of the Class A Brooklyn Cyclones (NY Mets), has a wonderful bronze statue of Pee Wee Reese with his arm around Jackie Robinson's shoulder. I don't have a picture of it but maybe someone else does. I make sure to pass it every time I go to a Cyclone's game.

I got these off the internet. A great statue.

As a side note; When MCU Park first opened it was called Keyspan Park and had a mini museum dedicated to Brooklyn baseball (mostly the Brooklyn Dodgers).
I can't seem to find any more information on it, so I'm guessing that it closed.
Does anyone know anything about it?

[JollyElm]

McCovey Cove in SF...

mccoveycove.jpg