It’s that time of year again—October. And no, it’s not just Halloween or the usual slide into colder days. It’s World Series season, and for baseball fans (myself included), it feels like an unofficial national holiday. This week should come with its own set of celebratory events: floats, the Blue Angels making a stadium pass, five hundred red, white, and blue pigeons circling overhead. Why not? It’s as much a celebration of our love for baseball as it is the end of another season.
The Thrill of Game Day
Every year, October reminds me of why I started creating baseball paintings in the first place. There's a feeling you get walking into a stadium on a game day, whether it’s your hometown field or a legendary ballpark. It’s the same kind of anticipation you feel at the start of the World Series. The fans are buzzing, everyone’s hopeful or anxious, and every player out there is wrestling with nerves—whether it's butterflies or a whole monkey on their back. Some of these players might be Hall of Famers someday, and for a lucky few, we’ll be watching a career-defining play unfold right in front of us - which, by the way, we have already seen with the walk off home run that cleared the bases and sinched the win by LA Dodger Freddie Freeman.
Baseball Art – Capturing the Moment
And that’s where the art comes in. My way of experiencing baseball doesn’t end when the last inning does. I get to take that energy and those moments and pour them into a painting, letting them live on. For me, painting a game or a player is my way of capturing not just what I saw, but how it felt. In a way, it’s like I get to keep the World Series around a little longer each year. Sure, it’s a way of hanging onto the excitement of the moment, but it’s also a way of experiencing it over again every time I see that finished piece.
The Significance of October
October feels like the end of one chapter and the start of another, which might be why the World Series feels so fitting right now. It’s not quite the end of the year, but for those of us who live and breathe baseball, this is it—the big finale. We’ve spent all summer watching the season play out, and now we get one last burst of energy to close it out. For some, the end of the year is December, but for baseball lovers, it’s the fall. The World Series signals the end of the year in its own way.
Why Painting Baseball Matters
Baseball isn’t just a game; it’s moments and memories we don’t want to let go of. And every painting I make is my own little tribute to those memories. Whether it’s a pitcher mid-throw, a fan catching a foul ball, or the final moments of a close game, I get to experience it all over again with each brushstroke. The end of baseball season doesn’t mean goodbye—it means capturing what mattered most and putting it on canvas.
