Sunday, May 28, 2017

The Art of Gary Cieradkowski


I've brought up sports art a few times in the past. There is a lot of great stuff out there, and some (IMHO) not-so-great as well. One of my favorite sports artists is Gary Cieradkowski. I've referred to him before and one of his cards made my 30 Day Baseball Challenge on Twitter.

He is a card blogger (he draws his own of course) and has authored/illustrated a great book. He recently made available his latest project, the Spring 2017 edition of 21: Illustrated Journal of Outsider Baseball. I received my copy a week or two ago and am enjoying it very much. I scanned the cover....


...but I wasn't about to subject it to breaking the spine in my scanner so I took some photos of the inside pages to post here. Not as satisfying as a scan but they will give you an idea of how nice it really is. You can click to enlarge. Enjoy:


This Steve Bilko article is my favorite. Such a neat story. Great portrait as well.


I hope you get the idea from these pics.



And along with my copy came a card of a young, Baltimore Oriole-era Babe Ruth. That's it up top. The reverse is scan worthy.


Outside of commenting on major brand card releases as we all do I don't often write a post 'promoting' anything. But I've enjoyed Cieradowski's work so much I felt the need to put this up for everyone's enjoyment.

Great stuff!!
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6 comments:

  1. Tony BurbsMay 28, 2017 at 10:10 AM

    A couple of Gary's cards rest comfortably in my binders and they are among my most favorite cards. His art is evocative, his writing is exceptionally informative, and his cards are better than anything in the mainstream. Thanks for showing off the book - I've been meaning to get one myself. Also, that Ruth, especially the back, is fantastic!

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  2. night owlMay 28, 2017 at 10:49 AM

    I received a "pack" of what I believe is his first set of cards several years ago. I agree, his stuff is pretty cool. I also agree that sports art is subjective. There is some of it out there that gets a lot of praise that doesn't interest me.

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  3. shoeboxlegendsMay 28, 2017 at 11:57 AM

    Thanks for posting, never heard of this artist but the book looks incredibly interesting (as does the card!). Think I'm gonna have to get myself a copy of that.

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  4. Steve at 1975BaseballCards.comMay 28, 2017 at 12:06 PM

    Gary's a talented artist, thanks for this writeup. I thought the The League of Outsider baseball book you linked to was a fun read and full of his illustrations.

    I wrote a post about it if anyone's interested: http://1975baseballcards.com/why-the-league-of-outsider-baseball-is-worth-reading/

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  5. KinMay 28, 2017 at 2:25 PM

    I'm not a fan of all this art/sketch card stuff that is all the rage in modern cards. However, this is an absolutely beautiful piece.

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  6. Mark HoyleMay 28, 2017 at 3:48 PM

    Thanks For bringing this to my attention. Gonna have to track one down

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