Smells Like Team Spirit

Paul Robeson was such a powerful man who could do almost anything (as long as he wasn’t sabotaged). Not only a star football player, he was also a concert baritone, an actor, a civil rights activist, and a lawyer. He was a student at Rutgers at the time of this image. Because of his many talents and difficult life, I didn’t want to overcrowd this painting with collage. I just want the viewer to feel all his athletic promise and strength and his gentle, beautiful power as a human being.

Size:  84 x 48 in

Medium: Acrylic, Oil, Iron Oxide, Copper Salt 

Jackie 'Stiff Arm' Robinson played 1939 and 1940 at UCLA. He was also a stand-out at the long jump, but left the university to play semi-pro before joining the US Army. Refusal to sit at the back of the bus in Fort Hood, Texas led to charges of which he was acquitted. The incident nor many others were not forgotten. "After two years at UCLA, I decided to leave. I was convinced that no amount of education would help a black man get a job."

Size: 24 x 36 in

Medium: Oil, Iron Oxide, Acrylic, Copper Salt

Josh Gibson is standing here so confidently in the middle of the field with the hard light hitting him. It’s the perfect light for him; he was a hard hitter who had the highest batting average in baseball history. The poster elements that I collaged into the painting bring in sound bites, it's like making you feel that the image can speak. There’s also an image of him and his wife. They didn’t get to grow old together, tragically, Josh Gibson died young, but he is still the GOAT.

Size: 48 × 72 in

Medium: Acrylic, Oil, Iron Oxide, Copper Salt

Fritz Pollard was the highest-paid player in the NFL in 1922 and one of only two Black players at its founding in 1920. He began as a player, became a head coach, and even ran a shirt-pressing business on the side. Notably, he was a crucial halfback when Brown University defeated Harvard in 1916. By 1926, Black players were systematically excluded from the NFL. In response, Fritz founded his own league and, with the backing of his friend Paul Robeson and financial support from a Rockefeller, established a sound studio that produced the first “music videos” that were called “talkies“. Later, he opened an estate planning business. Throughout his journey, he kept reinventing himself. As much as the odds were against him, he faced the challenges head-on. That's why I love him so much and see him as a hero. 

Size: 72 x 48 in

Medium: Acrylic, Oil, Iron Oxide, Copper Salt

The Owls Club was a Black women's softball team formed in the late 1930s in Seattle. The Owls won the first women's Washington State Softball Championship in 1938, playing at Sick's Stadium, today the site of Rainier Avenue Lowe's.

Size: 48 × 36 in

Medium: Oil. Iron Oxide. Acrylic. Copper Salt. Collage

Mildred Deegan, Pitcher, Outfielder and Second Base Woman played for Rockford Peaches, Kenosha Comets, Springfield Sallies, Fort Wayne Daisies and the Peoria Redwings. In 1944, She was invited to the Dodgers' SpringTraining at Bear Mountain. "...if we run out of men, Millie will be the first on the team...if she were a man, she no doubt would have been a Dodger." Leo Durocher, Brooklyn Dodgers’ manager, was quoted to have said.

Size: 24 × 18 in

Medium: Oil, Iron Oxide, Acrylic, Copper Salt

The year is 1878 and these are very dapperly dressed and relaxed players. Not much is known about them, but Brown's first intercollegiate baseball game had happened 15 years earlier with Harvard in 1863. I just love how their gear and cool threads have style.

Size: 48 × 60 in

Medium: Oil. Iron Oxide. Acrylic. Copper Salt, Collage

Jackie Robinson was called up from the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues to break the color barrier of Major League Baseball in 1947 for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The hard-hitting second baseman appeared in seven World Series, winning the trophy of MVP in 1955 against the team's bitter rivals, the Yankees. The Splendid Splinter paved the way for thousands of black players by standing in the batter's box against the odds. A true champion.

Size: 24 × 36 in

Medium: Oil, Acrylic, Iron Oxide & Collage

Lou Gehrig, a native New Yorker, was known as Iron Horse for playing in 2130 games at first base for the Yankees. His batting led the team to six World Series. Retiring after the diagnosis of a fatal disease, he told the crowd at Yankee Stadium that he was “the luckiest man alive.”

Size: 24 × 18 in

Medium: Oil, Iron Oxide, Acrylic, Copper Salt

Rogelio Crespo played professionally from 1918 to 1933 with the Cuban Stars, Cuban Stars of Havana, Gilkerson Giants and Chicago Giants. He had a long life on and off the field. I love his stance and the way the sun hits him here.

Size: 24 × 18 in

Medium: Oil, Iron Oxide, Acrylic, Copper Salt

This image pre-dates the Negro League. This independent team, the Philadelphia Giants, was the brainchild of sportswriter Walter Schlichter. The team was launched in 1902. In 1906, these Giants had a most remarkable season as they claimed 108 victories in a 145-game schedule.

Size: 36 × 60 in

Medium: Oil, Iron Oxide, Acrylic, Copper Salt

This Long Island team is feeling a powerful sense of loss. It's halftime of the last game of the season for Baldwin High school. Dick Schaap was a teenager reporting the game. He had little to say about Baldwin and a lot more about the Red Devils who won. The collective sense of loss is what drew me to paint this.

Size: 48 × 48 in

Medium: Oil, Iron Oxide, Acrylic, Copper Salt

Jump Ball is no longer as popular as it once was. This image from around 1926 really conveys how suspenseful the game was. There’s an almost permeating sense of the old gym vibe and smell.

Size: 48 × 84 in

Medium: Oil, Iron Oxide, Acrylic, Copper Salt

Jump Ball is no longer as popular as it once was. This image from around 1926 really conveys how suspenseful the game was. There’s an almost permeating sense of the old gym vibe and smell.

Size: 48 × 84 in

Medium: Oil, Iron Oxide, Acrylic, Copper Salt

In 1940, at the age of 17, Larry Doby entered the Negro Leagues as a second baseman for the Newark Eagles. After serving in the US Navy in WWII he rejoined the Eagles to win that league's series. Doby broke the American League's ban on Black players in 1947. That year and the following year he led the team to victory with the help of Satchel Paige.

Size: 24 × 18

Medium: Oil, Iron Oxide, Acrylic, Copper Salt

Toni Stone was a pioneering African American baseball player who broke barriers as the first woman to play in men's professional baseball leagues. When she was told to wear a dress she refused.

Size: 24 × 18 in

Medium: Oil, Iron Oxide, Acrylic, Copper Salt

In 1918, Babe Ruth, after winning three World Series as a pitcher, was traded from the Boston Red Sox to their rivals the New York Yankees. Ruth's epic hitting, an astounding 714 home runs, propelled the Yankees to four World Championships. Beloved by fans, Babe Ruth will always be known as the Sultan of Swat.

Size; 24 × 36 in

Medium: Oil, Iron Oxide, Acrylic, Copper Salt

The Rockford Peaches were a team to reckon with. They served as the inspiration for the film "A League of Their Own."

Size: 24 × 36 in

Medium: Oil, Iron Oxide, Acrylic, Copper Salt

No one actually knew the exact age of Satchel Paige, the greatest baseball player ever. His baseball career began in 1927 with the Down By The Bay boys in his home town of Mobile. The best player on every team, Satchel played on seven Negro League teams before joining the Cleveland Indians as a rookie at age 49 to help them to a World Series victory. Longtime Chicago Cubs broadcaster Jack Brickhouse once said with amusement that Paige "Threw a lot of pitches that were not quite 'legal' and not quite 'illegal.'" No one was ever better.

Size: 24 × 24 in

Medium: Acrylic, Oil, Iron Oxide, Copper Salt

Sons of sharecroppers who moved to Oakland, the East Bay Dragons were first an all-Black car club, but changed into a Harley Davidson riding motorcycle club in 1959. They had to buy used bikes because no dealerships would sell Harleys to Black men. They are one of the oldest surviving Black clubs. The Dragons adopted their own uniform. They wore black, grease-stained Levi's and vests with their signature patch: a green dragon against a gold background. I love their style.

Size: 48 × 60 in

Medium: Acrylic, Oil, Iron Oxide, Copper Salt

There are always bad boys wherever there are teams. This is an homage to them.

Size: 36 × 48 in

Medium: Oil, Acrylic, Iron Oxide & Collage

Eri Yoshida, renowned for her exceptional knuckleball, made history as the first female professional baseball player in Japan's men's league, she later joined the outlaws. Japan is steeped in baseball history.

Size: 24 × 36 in

Medium: Acrylic, Oil, Iron Oxide, Copper Salt