I had come with an idea a year or so ago about something that I wanted to give Cherie, but I didn't have an idea on how to go about it.
I have often thought about artwork with a group picture style going back to my childhood in the 1970s when DC Comics would do wonderful special issues with their heroes around the Christmas tree enjoying the Christmas cheer.
Those covers always stuck with me and I always wanted to work on something that would comprise some of the people (real and fictional) together in one picture to represent my life and the people/characters that I always loved in one picture.
The cost of that means it might end as an unfinished work somewhere, but thinking of things like that caused a thought to jump into my mind- What if I was able to do a picture of all of the pets that had brought so much into Cherie's, the kids, and my own life?
That seemed possible, if not cheap but very possible.
I'm not skilled at art, a stick figure from me looks disjointed and I wondered who, where, and how to accomplish this task.
Then over the winter, it struck me who could do it and who I wanted to do it that the project could be done and that was an easy choice.
In my earliest coaching years (1993-96), I often had to umpire other team's games and for the first three seasons, I was struck by the competitiveness and attitude of a catcher on one of the league's consistent also-rans.
When you umpire home plate, you get to know the catchers better than any other players, and I knew Mike O'Brien with his competitive toughness didn't deserve to have to play on the perennial cellar-dweller managed by a fellow that would fit in well with today's why even keep score attitude and I tried many times to land him in a trade, but his manager despite his mismatch of styles didn't want to let him go.
Entering Mike's final season in the league, I was determined to land him for my team, defending the league championship, and after working it out to get him at the league meeting (they had a really dumb way of team allocating which was not a draft), I drove home to call my new players and his mom told me that he wasn't playing because he didn't make the upper league, but his younger brother was.
I started selling my team and what I'd do for Mike as a player and while I couldn't promise a championship, I could promise a chance at one, the most fun he will have with baseball, and for the only time in coaching- I guaranteed he would make the All-Star team.
Mike's mom agreed to pass it on to him and at my first practice, he came running onto the field, exchanging a high-five as he told me he was on board and yes, he did make the All-Star team, and we did win the league title complete with Mike hitting his only homer off his pitching nemesis in the final game.
So, Mike O'Brien ranks right at the top of my favorite players of ten years of coaching and fast forward from 1996 and Mike is now a professional artist.
And by professional, I mean he makes his living at it and has done commercial work for many companies that you have heard of in his career and his freelance work for his own Wheelhouse Art.
Of course, I wanted to have a work that Mike did for myself and I decided to start the process with the pets for the family.
I started with Posey, Big Ed, Chancellor, and of course the irrepressible Teddy. and as I rolled on I thought that I couldn't have such a project without Shiloh.
As Mike worked through various drafts of the picture involving me in the process of refining how the pets looked, about midway through I remembered that there was one missing animal.
Bramble was Cherie's and I's first pet and named after the former WBA lightweight champion Livingstone Bramble.
I told Bramble's story during the pandemic for Rachel's Day as part of the friends and family series.
I wanted to add Bramble, but I didn't have any pictures that I could remember until it hit me that there may be a small photo album from that time in my attic, which could have two pictures of Bramble in it.
Trooping up to the less than a seasonable attic, I dug the book out with the pictures in there, sent them to Mike, and added him to the picture.
I had several choices in what I wanted, ranging from 5x7 to 16x20, penciled, painted, color, black and white, and torn on what to choose.
Price did come into play to a certain degree but even though a color picture would have been really sharp, I would have had to have settled for a small picture in color compared to a sizable one in black and white and I thought a larger work would be far more detailed.
The project from start to finish was around three months in time and when it was ready for delivery, I didn't feel good about it.
The mail has slowed for everyone since the installation of Louis DeJoy as head of the USPS during the Trump administration and not only slowed but in many cases taking weeks and occasionally months to arrive after being sent.
So my concern with a one-of-a-kind item not only not getting there on time, but being potentially damaged made me think that I should go and pick it up myself.
I'm not sure I would have picked it up elsewhere, but it worked this time.
After arriving at Mike's home and seeing the picture in person for the first time, I really thought it was great and the above picture shows just how great Mike's work truly is.
I was able to spend a very enjoyable hour with Mike at his beautiful home and saw the studio that he does all of his work and talk sports and re-live plenty of old memories from days gone by.
I likely took up far too much of his time, but I had a great time visiting with him and perhaps I can do it again sometime down the road.
I quickly buzzed through the return trip, stopping in Triadelphia WV for a Quaker Steak wing stop and some gas before arriving home.
I'm really thrilled with the picture, I couldn't be happier with it, and everyone that has seen it has been extremely complimentary towards it.
It was an all-around great experience and I couldn't speak higher of Mike, his work, and should you be interested in a custom work of any type, Mike can be contacted at his website- Wheelhouse Art.
Tell him that his old coach sent you!
Sorry that my writing has slowed to a crawl, I'm still trying to get back what I need to roll things out as normal, but hang in there- I am working on it!
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