Braves Field Inspires A Masterpiece: Norman Rockwell Visits The Wigwam

Then and now: Frank McNulty (center) reunites with fellow batboys Tom Ferguson (right) and Charlie Chronopoulos (left). (Courtesy of Boston Braves Historical Association archives)

 

Pennant fever had yet to grip the Hub when the fourth-place Boston Braves and sixth-place Chicago Cubs played a doubleheader at the Wigwam on Sunday afternoon, May 23, 1948. While the Tribe convincingly swept both games (8-5 and 12-4), advancing one rung in the standings and adding two more victories to aid in their pursuit of their first National League pennant since the Miracle Braves season of 1914, our tale focuses not on the particulars of those contests but, instead, on the actions of one of the 31,693 in attendance that day.

Famed American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell journeyed from his home in Vermont to Braves Field to collect ideas for a baseball-related portrait scheduled to appear on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post, a nationally distributed weekly magazine that traced its roots back to Benjamin Franklin. Rockwell had performed many cover assignments for the periodical over the previous 30 years. His overall Post portfolio eventually would include several iconic baseball images. As was his custom, Rockwell would scope out future artwork by staging scenes at particular sites and have an assistant take photographs for later reference. Upon returning to his studio, he would use such pictures as inspirations for his illustration.

The artist did not focus his attention on any of the notable ballplayers populating the rosters of either team. Instead, he called upon Braves 17-year-old batboy Frank McNulty to serve as his primary model. McNulty had joined the Tribe in 1945, working as a clubhouse boy under team custodian George “Shorty” Young. He next became the home team-supplied visitors’ batboy. Upon gaining further seniority, he moved to the home dugout and acted as the Braves batboy until the club departed for Milwaukee.

Before the start of the opening contest, Rockwell approached McNulty and offered the lad the sum of $5 to dress up in a Chicago road uniform. He posed him in front of a white sheet held up by fellow Braves batboys Tom Ferguson and Charlie Chronopoulos. McNulty was instructed to stare forlornly toward the diamond, pretending to be suffering from the prospect of another Cubs loss. Rockwell struggled to obtain the desired expression of sadness from McNulty. Over the course of a couple of hours, he would change the tilt of the batboy’s cap and request a variety of facial expressions from his model. Finally Rockwell suggested to his subject that he pretend that his dog had just died. McNulty recalled that the photographer accompanying Rockwell snapped about 25 photos for later use.

Rockwell enlisted a number of folks to occupy the grandstand seats in back of the dugout and mimic his instructions to pretend to jeer at the Braves’ opponents. The grouping of volunteers included Helen Fitzsimmons, the daughter of a Braves coach, and Terese Prendergast, the wife of a Braves pitcher. As he sometimes did in his finished works, Rockwell later would insert himself among the boisterous Braves Field crowd.

The famed illustrator took the results of his Braves Field trek back to his studio and proceeded to paint one of baseball’s most memorable images, “The Dugout,” which appeared on the front of the September 4, 1948, issue of The Saturday Evening Post. In addition to using McNulty’s pose, Rockwell included the disheartened images of pitcher Bob Rush, manager Charlie Grimm, catcher Al “Rube” Walker, and hurler Johnny Schmitz in the Cubs dugout.

So great was the artist’s reputation that the Cubs had not voiced an objection to being portrayed in defeat on the Post cover. Selecting the Windy City’s National League representative for this treatment was not fortuitous. By the magazine’s cover date, Chicago found itself mired in eighth place. The Cubs would finish the season in the senior circuit’s basement, 27½ games in back of the league-leading Braves. Some believe that the reputation of the Cubs as “lovable losers” can be traced back to the Post portrait.

At an after-publication pregame ceremony at Braves Field, Rockwell presented McNulty with a signed copy of the Post cover. In the fall the Braves’ batboy was rewarded with a World Series ring. Charlie Grimm, who later would serve as the last Boston Braves manager, was gifted with a charcoal draft of “The Dugout,” inscribed by Rockwell, “To Charles Grimm, a long suffering but wonderful manager.” The original watercolor used by the magazine now resides in the Brooklyn Museum.1 An earlier Rockwell preliminary study of the scene was once sold at auction for well over $600,000.

McNulty eventually went on to serve as the president of Parade Magazine, a position he held until his retirement. In 2002 he was inducted into the Boston Braves Hall of Fame.

BOB BRADY joined SABR in 1991 and is the current president of the Boston Braves Historical Association. As the editor of the Association’s quarterly newsletter since 1992, he’s had the privilege of memorializing the passings of the “Greatest Generation” members of the Braves Family. He owns a small piece of the Norwich, Connecticut-based Connecticut Tigers of the New York-Penn League, a Class-A short-season affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. Bob has contributed biographies and supporting pieces to a number of SABR publications as well as occasionally lending a hand in the editing process.

 

Sources

The author relied on notes taken at Boston Braves Historical Association reunions, the archives of the Norman Rockwell Museum and Neil D. Isaacs, Innocence & Wonder: Baseball through the Eyes of Batboys (Indianapolis: Masters Press, 1994).

 

Notes

1 The Brooklyn Museum’s website contains illustrations of a Rockwell reference photo and the Post cover: brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/norman_rockwell/dugout.php.