Polman: Four players in the golden age of baseball design
From SABR member Jeff Polman at Crooked Scoreboard on May 31, 2016, with mention of SABR members Graig Kreindler and Todd Radom:
Something wonderful happened to baseball on April 6, 1992.
Retrosheet and Baseball Reference say that the home Baltimore Orioles defeated the Cleveland Indians 2-0 in front of over 44,500 fans. What might not be mentioned is that the opening game in Oriole Park at Camden Yards successfully transported those baseball fans into the past.
Designed by Kansas City-based architecture firm HOK (since sold and renamed Populous), it was the first decidedly retro, baseball-only big league park after a seemingly endless trend of building symmetrical, concrete, multi-use eyesore facilities that marred the otherwise colorful 1970s. Rather than demolish the old B&O Warehouse that was on the site near the Inner Harbor, HOK brilliantly incorporated the long brick structure and adjacent Eutaw Street just outside the right field fence into the design of the ballpark. The side of each dark green seat even included the 100-year-old double bat logo of the original Baltimore Orioles.
For many ball fans, Camden Yards was a glorious gift that honored the game’s past while also providing modern conveniences, and a blizzard of new major- and minor-league parks in the last two decades have utilized the same winning old-time look. It also launched what I call the Golden Age of Baseball Design, an all-consuming love for artistically rendering the game’s rich past through myriad mediums.
In today’s consuming world of digital media, it is easier than ever to relish dazzling new work by the game’s “retro artists.” Graig Kreindler and his cottage industry of breathtaking baseball history paintings have been with us for a while, and more recently, “BSmile” and his dazzling colorizations of ancient photos have risen to the fore. Here, though, are four other wonderful baseball designers you may not be familiar with who recently agreed to answer a set of similar emailed questions.
Read the full article here: http://crookedscoreboard.com/rulers-of-retro-four-players-in-the-golden-age-of-baseball-design/
Originally published: May 31, 2016. Last Updated: May 31, 2016.