Flip Flop Fly Ball - Árbol de Béisbol

The inspiration for trying to tell a history of Major League Baseball came from a style of Mexican sculpture called Árbol de la Vida (Tree of Life). They are very beautiful, and should you ever visit Mexico City, I highly recommend visiting the Museo de Arte Popular and Museo Nacional de Antropología where you can see some wonderful examples. (Or you could just google it.) When I first saw a Tree of Life sculpture at the National Museum of Anthropology, I had a vague idea to do some sort of drawing about baseball history based of this style of sculpture. This, two years later, is that drawing.

What I have tried to do is have three people represent each decade. (In later decades, there are four each, and just three representing the 19th century.) I've also tried to represent as many franchise as I could. It would be easy to fill this with Yankee players, but I only wanted a maximum of three players per franchise. Even then there are several franchises without any players represented. And if you think about how to represent the Yankees with just three figures, for example, who would you choose? It's a tough one. Babe Ruth has to be in there. Lou Gehrig, too. But then you have Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, etc etc. I figured that Ruth and Gehrig represented the start of that franchise's great successes. And therefore they also covered the bases that many of their other great players would cover. The one era of Yankeedom that felt different to me is the 70s, so that's why Billy Martin is the third Yankee.

It became more difficult in later years to represent three players per decade and represent all of the expansion teams; that would've meant using 14 figures from the 1960s to 2000s just making sure every team is represented. Doing so would have created a false view of each of those decades. Indeed, would you want the 1990s solely represented by players from the Diamondbacks, Rockies, Devil Rays and Marlins? Instead, and twisting things to fit in my own head, Randy Johnson is there in a Diamondbacks uniform, representing all four of the 1990s expansion teams. And even if there isn't a player from every team, every team is referenced with another element somewhere. There are no Marlins players, for example, but I added part of the home run sculpture at Marlins Park to represent that franchise.

There are no Negro League players because this is a representation of Major League Baseball. I toyed with the idea of including a handful of players from the Negro Leagues, but in the end felt that sticking to Major League Baseball, with its pre-Jackie Robinson flaws, was a better idea.

If that wasn't enough, I wanted it to be fun, too. And if you're still thumping the desk that I've not included your favourite plater, it's a pretty fun exercise to wrap your head around, so try and do it: three players that represent each decade, trying to cover as many franchises as possible. It would be completely possible to do this drawing again and easily fill up my three per decade rule and still miss a lot of great players.

Anyway, for want of a better word, this is art. And I am the artist, and I stand by my choices. I've used a fair amount of words defending myself, though, but that's because I'm English, and didn't grow up with baseball, and I just don't want you the viewer to think that I haven't put in a ton of thought. I've been working on and amending this drawing on and off for two years. I'm glad it's finally finished.

There is a wee bit of guesswork going on with the uniforms of 19th century teams. The Dressed to the Nines uniform database only goes back to 1900, so I sourced as many images as possible, and chose colors from illustrations on cigarette cards for Monte Ward, King Kelly, and Old Hoss Radbourn (or contemporaneous team-mates). I've also had to guess at the colour of John McGraw's cardigan because the only sources I've come across are black and white photos. I decided that because their uniform at the time featured dark blue and red, that the cardigan should have the same colours.

The use of text within the drawing is referencing two things. First, the idea of lovers carving initials on a tree. I have come to love baseball over the past decade, and I'm digitally carving light brown pixels onto dark brown pixels. Second, it's a fairly blatant reference to the work of Howard Finster.

Hopefully, my drawing skills are good enough for you to recognise most of the players and stuff. But here's a list of everything in the picture, starting at bottom left in the 1800s and snaking up the tree to the present day.

John Montgomery Ward, New York Gothams/Giants
The flag of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, representing baseball's roots
King Kelly, Chicago White Stockings
Great Pyramid of Giza, where the Chicago White Stockings visited on their world tour in 1889
Old Hoss Radbourn, Providence Grays

Connie Mack, Philadelphia Athletics
Ty Cobb, Detroit Tigers
Honus Wagner, Pittsburgh Pirates
Wrigley Field's win flag
The T206 Honus Wagner card

The flag of Cuba, representing the first Cuban players (Rafael Almeida and Armando Marsans) in the majors in 1911
Addie Joss, Cleveland Bronchos/Naps
The flag of the United States, representing the national anthem being introduced at games
Walter Johnson, Washington Senators
"Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Chicago White Sox
Rogers Hornsby, St. Louis Cardinals
Eddie Grant Memorial at the Polo Grounds
John McGraw, New York Giants

The frieze from Yankee Stadium
Babe Ruth, New York Yankees
Jimmie Foxx, Philadelphia Athletics
Hank Greenberg, Detroit Tigers
The flag of Mexico, representing Mel Almada, the first Mexican in the majors in 1933
Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees
Ted Williams, Boston Red Sox
The flag of Venezuela representing Alex Carrasquel, the first Venezuelan player in the majors in 1939

Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers
A goat. You know why
The Crosley Field floodlight, the first ballpark to have lights
Stan Musial, St. Louis Cardinals
The flag of Puerto Rico, representing Hiram Bithorn, the first Puerto Rican in the majors in 1942
Willie Mays, New York Giants
The "Infield Back?" and "Yes" and "No" signs from the St. Louis Browns' Grandstand Managers Day
Ernie Banks, Chicago Cubs
Warren Spahn, Milwaukee Braves
The flag of the Dominican Republic, representing Ozzie Virgil, the first Dominican in 1956
Mr. Met, New York Mets

Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers
The flag of Japan, for Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese player in 1964
Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh Pirates
Home Run Apple from Shea Stadium
The HERE flag from Baltimore Memorial Stadium where Frank Robinson hit a home run out of the stadium
A green weenie
Marvin Miller
The flag of Canada, representing the Montreal Expos, the first non-US team in the majors
Hank Aaron, Atlanta Braves
Pete Rose, Cincinnati Reds
The Big A from Anaheim Stadium
Billy Martin, New York Yankees

Montreal's Olympic Stadium
San Diego's Famous Chicken
Chalet and beer mug from Milwaukee County Stadium
Nolan Ryan, Houston Astros
Short Stinks banner from RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C. unfurled by fans at the last game before the Senators were relocated to Texas by owner Bob Short
Fernando Valenzuela, Los Angeles Dodgers
Charles O. Finlay's orange baseball
Mike Schmidt, Philadelphia Phillies

Rickey Henderson, Oakland Athletics
Bo Jackson, Kansas City Royals
Roberto Alomar, Toronto Blue Jays
A cloud from the ramps at the SkyDome
One of the purple row seats from Coors Field
Randy Johnson, Arizona Diamondbacks, with a (live) dove on his head

Bill James
Steve Bartman
Anaheim Angels Rally Monkey
Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants
Pedro Martinez, Boston Red Sox

Cownose ray, from the Rays Touch Tank at Tropicana Field
Beer and hot dog, just because
The Comiskey Park pinwheels
A Marlin from the home run sculpture at Marlins Park

Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners
Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
Bugs (above Albert's head) from game two of the 2007 ALDS at Progressive Field
A King's Court sign from Safeco Field
Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals

The text on the tree, from top to bottom:
My oh my!: Dave Niehaus
9-6-2: The Jeter flip
Mercury symbol: Mercury Mets on Turn Ahead the Clock Night
42: Jackie Robinson's number retired league wide
He is... safe! Safe at the plate: Sean McDonough's call of Sid Bream scoring the winning run in the 1992 NLCS
.649: Montreal Expos' win percentage in 1994
Merci Expos: on the video screen at the Expos' final home game
2,131: Cal Ripken passes Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played
Hits 0 LSD hits 1: Dock Ellis' no-hitter
I donÕt believe what I just saw!: Jack Buck's call of Kirk Gibson's home run
Three and two to Mookie Wilson: Vin Scully calling the game six of the 1986 World Series
61*: Roger Maris breaking the single season home run record
Holy Cow!: Phil Rizzuto's call of above home run
California: baseball moves west
1/8: Eddie Gaedel's number for the St. Louis Browns
The art of fiction is dead: Red Smith writing about Bobby Thomson's Shot Heard 'Round the World
A million butterflies: Vin Scully calling Sandy Koufax's perfect game
If it stays fair...: Carlton Fisk's home run
2,130: Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played
BB and LL: Bustin' Babes and Larrupin' Lous, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig's teams on their 1927 barnstorming tour
Diamond: Who's on first?
No gambling allowed: because no gambling was allowed
But I've got an awful lot to live for: Lou Gehrig's speech
Yes, kid, I'm afraid it is: what Shoeless Joe supposedly said when asked if it was true
8.17.20: Ray Chapman dies.
M.C.B.B: The Philadelphia Athletics' $100,000 infield: Stuffy McInnis, Eddie Collins, Jack Barry and Frank Baker
Jan 28, 1901: American League founded
M.F.W: Moses Fleetwood Walker of the 1884 Toledo Blue Stockings, the first African American to play Major League baseball until Jackie Robinson
Feb 2, 1876: National League founded
Sash: word used in a telegram by Jim Devlin of the Louisville Grays to indicate that he willing to throw a game for money
Tinker to Evers to Chance: From "Baseball's Sad Lexicon," a poem by Franklin Pierce Adams regarding the Chicago Cubs infield turning a double play
Notes: Take Me Out To The Ball Game

And in the background: palm trees for Spring Training, and autumnal trees of the World Series and the end of the season

Craig Robinson
October 2013

Special thanks to Pete, Ted, Eric, and Scott

Prints of this drawing coming soon.



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DRAWINGS > Árbol de Béisbol
The inspiration for trying to tell a history of Major League Baseball came from a style of Mexican sculpture called Árbol de la Vida (Tree of Life). They are very beautiful, and should you ever visit Mexico City, I highly recommend visiting the Museo de Arte Popular and Museo Nacional de Antropología where you can see some wonderful examples. (Or you could just google it.) When I first saw a Tree of Life sculpture at the National Museum of Anthropology, I had a vague idea to do some sort of drawing about baseball history based of this style of sculpture. This, two years later, is that drawing. What I have tried to do is have three people represent each decade. (In later decades, there are four each, and just three representing the 19th century.) I've also tried to represent as many franchise as I could. It would be easy to fill this with Yankee players, but I only wanted a maximum of three players per franchise. Even then there are several franchises without any players represented. And if you think about how to represent the Yankees with just three figures, for example, who would you choose? It's a tough one. Babe Ruth has to be in there. Lou Gehrig, too. But then you have Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, etc etc. I figured that Ruth and Gehrig represented the start of that franchise's great successes. And therefore they also covered the bases that many of their other great players would cover. The one era of Yankeedom that felt different to me is the 70s, so that's why Billy Martin is the third Yankee. It became more difficult in later years to represent three players per decade and represent all of the expansion teams; that would've meant using 14 figures from the 1960s to 2000s just making sure every team is represented. Doing so would have created a false view of each of those decades. Indeed, would you want the 1990s solely represented by players from the Diamondbacks, Rockies, Devil Rays and Marlins? Instead, and twisting things to fit in my own head, Randy Johnson is there in a Diamondbacks uniform, representing all four of the 1990s expansion teams. And even if there isn't a player from every team, every team is referenced with another element somewhere. There are no Marlins players, for example, but I added part of the home run sculpture at Marlins Park to represent that franchise. There are no Negro League players because this is a representation of Major League Baseball. I toyed with the idea of including a handful of players from the Negro Leagues, but in the end felt that sticking to Major League Baseball, with its pre-Jackie Robinson flaws, was a better idea. If that wasn't enough, I wanted it to be fun, too. And if you're still thumping the desk that I've not included your favourite plater, it's a pretty fun exercise to wrap your head around, so try and do it: three players that represent each decade, trying to cover as many franchises as possible. It would be completely possible to do this drawing again and easily fill up my three per decade rule and still miss a lot of great players. Anyway, for want of a better word, this is art. And I am the artist, and I stand by my choices. I've used a fair amount of words defending myself, though, but that's because I'm English, and didn't grow up with baseball, and I just don't want you the viewer to think that I haven't put in a ton of thought. I've been working on and amending this drawing on and off for two years. I'm glad it's finally finished. There is a wee bit of guesswork going on with the uniforms of 19th century teams. The Dressed to the Nines uniform database only goes back to 1900, so I sourced as many images as possible, and chose colors from illustrations on cigarette cards for Monte Ward, King Kelly, and Old Hoss Radbourn (or contemporaneous team-mates). I've also had to guess at the colour of John McGraw's cardigan because the only sources I've come across are black and white photos. I decided that because their uniform at the time featured dark blue and red, that the cardigan should have the same colours. The use of text within the drawing is referencing two things. First, the idea of lovers carving initials on a tree. I have come to love baseball over the past decade, and I'm digitally carving light brown pixels onto dark brown pixels. Second, it's a fairly blatant reference to the work of Howard Finster. Hopefully, my drawing skills are good enough for you to recognise most of the players and stuff. But here's a list of everything in the picture, starting at bottom left in the 1800s and snaking up the tree to the present day. John Montgomery Ward, New York Gothams/Giants The flag of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, representing baseball's roots King Kelly, Chicago White Stockings Great Pyramid of Giza, where the Chicago White Stockings visited on their world tour in 1889 Old Hoss Radbourn, Providence Grays Connie Mack, Philadelphia Athletics Ty Cobb, Detroit Tigers Honus Wagner, Pittsburgh Pirates Wrigley Field's win flag The T206 Honus Wagner card The flag of Cuba, representing the first Cuban players (Rafael Almeida and Armando Marsans) in the majors in 1911 Addie Joss, Cleveland Bronchos/Naps The flag of the United States, representing the national anthem being introduced at games Walter Johnson, Washington Senators "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Chicago White Sox Rogers Hornsby, St. Louis Cardinals Eddie Grant Memorial at the Polo Grounds John McGraw, New York Giants The frieze from Yankee Stadium Babe Ruth, New York Yankees Jimmie Foxx, Philadelphia Athletics Hank Greenberg, Detroit Tigers The flag of Mexico, representing Mel Almada, the first Mexican in the majors in 1933 Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees Ted Williams, Boston Red Sox The flag of Venezuela representing Alex Carrasquel, the first Venezuelan player in the majors in 1939 Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers A goat. You know why The Crosley Field floodlight, the first ballpark to have lights Stan Musial, St. Louis Cardinals The flag of Puerto Rico, representing Hiram Bithorn, the first Puerto Rican in the majors in 1942 Willie Mays, New York Giants The "Infield Back?" and "Yes" and "No" signs from the St. Louis Browns' Grandstand Managers Day Ernie Banks, Chicago Cubs Warren Spahn, Milwaukee Braves The flag of the Dominican Republic, representing Ozzie Virgil, the first Dominican in 1956 Mr. Met, New York Mets Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers The flag of Japan, for Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese player in 1964 Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh Pirates Home Run Apple from Shea Stadium The HERE flag from Baltimore Memorial Stadium where Frank Robinson hit a home run out of the stadium A green weenie Marvin Miller The flag of Canada, representing the Montreal Expos, the first non-US team in the majors Hank Aaron, Atlanta Braves Pete Rose, Cincinnati Reds The Big A from Anaheim Stadium Billy Martin, New York Yankees Montreal's Olympic Stadium San Diego's Famous Chicken Chalet and beer mug from Milwaukee County Stadium Nolan Ryan, Houston Astros Short Stinks banner from RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C. unfurled by fans at the last game before the Senators were relocated to Texas by owner Bob Short Fernando Valenzuela, Los Angeles Dodgers Charles O. Finlay's orange baseball Mike Schmidt, Philadelphia Phillies Rickey Henderson, Oakland Athletics Bo Jackson, Kansas City Royals Roberto Alomar, Toronto Blue Jays A cloud from the ramps at the SkyDome One of the purple row seats from Coors Field Randy Johnson, Arizona Diamondbacks, with a (live) dove on his head Bill James Steve Bartman Anaheim Angels Rally Monkey Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants Pedro Martinez, Boston Red Sox Cownose ray, from the Rays Touch Tank at Tropicana Field Beer and hot dog, just because The Comiskey Park pinwheels A Marlin from the home run sculpture at Marlins Park Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals Bugs (above Albert's head) from game two of the 2007 ALDS at Progressive Field A King's Court sign from Safeco Field Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals The text on the tree, from top to bottom: My oh my!: Dave Niehaus 9-6-2: The Jeter flip Mercury symbol: Mercury Mets on Turn Ahead the Clock Night 42: Jackie Robinson's number retired league wide He is... safe! Safe at the plate: Sean McDonough's call of Sid Bream scoring the winning run in the 1992 NLCS .649: Montreal Expos' win percentage in 1994 Merci Expos: on the video screen at the Expos' final home game 2,131: Cal Ripken passes Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played Hits 0 LSD hits 1: Dock Ellis' no-hitter I donÕt believe what I just saw!: Jack Buck's call of Kirk Gibson's home run Three and two to Mookie Wilson: Vin Scully calling the game six of the 1986 World Series 61: Roger Maris breaking the single season home run record Holy Cow!: Phil Rizzuto's call of above home run California: baseball moves west 1/8: Eddie Gaedel's number for the St. Louis Browns The art of fiction is dead: Red Smith writing about Bobby Thomson's Shot Heard 'Round the World A million butterflies: Vin Scully calling Sandy Koufax's perfect game If it stays fair...: Carlton Fisk's home run 2,130: Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played BB and LL: Bustin' Babes and Larrupin' Lous, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig's teams on their 1927 barnstorming tour Diamond: Who's on first? No gambling allowed: because no gambling was allowed But I've got an awful lot to live for: Lou Gehrig's speech Yes, kid, I'm afraid it is: what Shoeless Joe supposedly said when asked if it was true 8.17.20:* Ray Chapman dies. M.C.B.B: The Philadelphia Athletics' $100,000 infield: Stuffy McInnis, Eddie Collins, Jack Barry and Frank Baker Jan 28, 1901: American League founded M.F.W: Moses Fleetwood Walker of the 1884 Toledo Blue Stockings, the first African American to play Major League baseball until Jackie Robinson Feb 2, 1876: National League founded Sash: word used in a telegram by Jim Devlin of the Louisville Grays to indicate that he willing to throw a game for money Tinker to Evers to Chance: From "Baseball's Sad Lexicon," a poem by Franklin Pierce Adams regarding the Chicago Cubs infield turning a double play Notes: Take Me Out To The Ball Game And in the background: palm trees for Spring Training, and autumnal trees of the World Series and the end of the season Craig Robinson October 2013 Special thanks to Pete, Ted, Eric, and Scott Prints of this drawing coming soon.