The National Pastime Museum: Casey at the Bat Project

The National Pastime Museum was a wonderful virtual reliquary with a mission “to educate the public about the history and significance of baseball in American culture using artifacts as benchmarks”, curated by Frank Ceresi.

The museum commissioned a variety of known baseball artists, including the brilliant Kadir Nelson, Graig Kreindler and glove artist Sean Kane, to create visual interpretations of Ernest Thayer’s iconic poem, “Casey at the Bat” to be displayed each June in celebration of the poem’s first printing in 1888.

It was an honor to be commissioned to create my own interpretation for the museum’s Casey at the Bat collection. It’s such a witty and devastatingly relatable poem for any baseball fan. The entire work is a wonderful opportunity for characters and expressions–I had so many ideas! Ultimately, I chose to imagine the full Mudville Nine (for whom the outlook wasn’t brilliant). I have since been informed that mine is the only known rendition to feature Casey on the bench (and not actually at the bat…or about to be). This piece was a delight to work on; it’s a joy to have it included in such a beautiful collection.