Baseball Image Photograph Sports Art Baseball LA Dodgers

Good Potential for LA Dodgers Baseball Season

 LA Dodgers fans, me being one of them, are excited to see the Dodgers start off with good wins with the strength of their new pitching.  The LA Dodgers might have a really good regular season because they basically have the same team that they had in 2020.  Then they added Trevor Bauer, the National League Cy Young winner and also the strong arm of Corey Knebel backing up in the bull pen.  I am sure that Clayton Kershaw is happy to have the company.

 This does not mean their season will be played as well as last season but it is a nice way to start. And considering the Dodgers, is one of the favorite teams this season, there is some satisfaction in knowing there are a lot of teams that would be thrilled to have their potential.  I know, I know, at this point in writing and showing the Dodgers art it is very, very early to make any kind of prediction to the season’s outcome. Let us hope they play to their ability. 

 So, why do I think the LA Dodgers might have a really good regular season?   It is pretty simple for even a sports artist to figure out.    I do expect the Los Angeles Dodgers expect to win their division championship. But what do I know.  I just paint sports art Good luck.

 About the LA Dodgers Baseball Art

 Here is a piece of art celebrating the Los Angeles Dodgers – a player sliding into home plate with a Yankee catcher tagging him out.  The LA Dodgers painting by sports artist John Robertson is ink and acrylic on a variety of maps of Los Angeles.  The painting is 5 feet by 6 feet.

LA Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax Baseball Art Painting

LA Dodgers Pitcher

Wouldn’t it be nice to have some 100 mph fastballs.  Let’s have a cannon up there firing  away.  LA Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax was like having a clipper ship with guns mounted on the side blazing cannonballs at the opposing ships.  When Koufax threw a fastball it lit up the crowd in the stadium.  It was like Pirates of the Caribbean setting a ship on fire.  All hands cheer.

Sandy Koufax

is considered one of the greatest pitchers ever to play the game.  His nickname was "The Left Arm of God"  or “Cannonball Koufax.”  He played his entire career with the Brooklyn/LA Dodgers retiring in 1966 because of arthritis in his left elbow at age 30.  As it has been said, “the barrel of his cannon got too hot.”   Sandy was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1972 - the youngest ever inducted at the time at 36 years old. Here isa version of a story about Koufax that I found on Wired " Cruel Curveball Science; Nasty Koufax" BY DAVID DOBBS

Sandy Koufax verses Mickey Mantle

Koufax had to face Mickey Mantel of the New York Yankees in the first game of the 1963 World Series, Dodgers verses Yankees — Koufax faces Mantle three times.  Mantles first at-bat Koufax strikes out Mantle firing off the the cannons – ripping him apart with his fastballs.

Second time at bat Mantle has two strikes against him.  The card on Mantle is,…do not throw him a curve ball.  Don’t.   Do not do it.  It’s like throwing gold coins at Captain Jack.  He’s going to get ‘em. No curveball.  The catcher signs Koufax for the fastball.  Koufax shakes him off.  The catcher pulls out his Navy semaphores and starts madly waving signals, again for the fastball.  Twice he signals him.  Sandy shakes them off.  Catcher figures it out and flags for the curveball.  Okay, he gets it.  Sandy wants to throw the no-no pitch to Mantle.  Sandy is going to hook him.

What was Koufax’s curveball like?  Some consider his hooker the best curveball ever thrown. It came in high at the chin and tacked across home plate from top to bottom like a ship running the trade winds into the Antarctic. The pitch dropped like an anchor to Mantle’s knees.  Mantle just stares at it.  Doesn’t even blink.  All he feels is the wind. 

Umpire:  “Strike three.”

Mantle glares around at the umpire.  “How the fuck is anybody supposed to hit that shit?” And walks back to the dugout."  (quote attributed to David Dobbs)

About the Sandy Koufax Painting

The baseball art of Sandy Koufax painting by sports artist John Robertson is painted with acrylic inks on drafting film.  The overall size is 11" x 14"

To follow my sports art work like my instagram page: 

https://www.instagram.com/anartistlife/

LA Dodgers Ex Pitcher Josh Beckett No Hitter

LA Dodgers Playoffs


 Wouldn’t it be nice is the LA Dodgers had someone who was part of the team during the play-offs to bring home the League Championship?  Here it is, time for the LA Dodgers post-season play-off, a run toward the World Series and there is no pitcher like Josh Beckett, who, at 23 received the award as the 2003 World Series MVP while with the Marlins, and with the Red Sox for the win in the 2007 World Series.    -   At 34 in he pitched a no hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies for the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 25, 2014 becoming the 19th man to do so in Dodgers history. However, his year and career ended due to an injury and he announced his retirement on October 7, 2014.  But For Beckett there was never  another time for a World Series appearence.  In a different context but similar circumstances Josh said this about change, "As much as I'm looking forward to the next chapter, I enjoyed the last one. Even during the tough times I met so many people who were just awesome. They were real fans."

 A Little More About Josh Beckett


 With Beckett it would have been such an easier task but the variety of injuries and the time spent in rehabilitation did not make for a nice ending to the season that year.  And he went in for surgery again next year with the big life time out on the horizon. 

There is always that observation that baseball-is-a-metaphor-for-life.  A young baseball player goes out and plays through his youth and when he gets old enough he tries to make a living at it.  He makes a team.  He has good days and bad days.  He goes home and his wife and children are happy to see him.    When he plays he is part of a team of workers but he has his individual job to do, pitch, strike, hit, catch, etc.  - all of which he does on his own.  There is nobody to help him on those things.  Either he has learned his skills or not.  Yes, his co-workers help him out on some of his skills, but the bottom line is - he is on his own.  Josh Beckett says to others, "... I just tell them, 'You have to deal with some of this and some of that, but you're going to get this and get that.''

I always liked what Beckett had to say about his pitching and which could apply to almost anything anyone does.  He said, “I think I've always been prepared for this. I know what I have to do. You can't make rocket science out of it. You just have to execute pitches. Don't let exterior distractions in. It just takes away from what you're trying to do.”

About the LA Dodgers Josh Beckett Art by Sports Artist John Robertson


Los Angeles Dodger pitcher Josh Beckett baseball painting, “No Hitter”  is 5 feet by 6 feet, acrylic and ink on unstretched canvas.

LA Dodgers painting Sports Art

LA Dodgers

 Well, I guess us LA Dodgers fans can give a sigh or relief as they did finally win a game that puts them into the playoffs.  I know, I know, at this point in writing and showing the Dodgers art they are in a wild card position - and that is better than nothing.  And considering the Dodgers, at one recent point was considered one of the best teams in baseball, there is some satisfaction in knowing there are a lot of teams, 20 of them, would be thrilled get this far.  Let us hope they start playing to their ability.

The Los Angeles Dodgers expect to win their fifth consecutive division championship and a birth in the World Series.  Good luck.  The way they have been playing for more than the last three weeks it will be a challenge for them to get back on track.  They are in the post-season play and in a few days, hopefully in the next few, they win the National League West championship.  And if they can achieve the best record in baseball this year, (that is still a question) they will have the home field advantage if they make it to the World Series.

 About the LA Dodgers painting

 In the meantime here is a piece of art celebrating the Los Angeles Dodgers – a player sliding into home plate with a Yankee catcher tagging him out.  Like the Dodgers the Yankees hold a wild-card position with the Indians up a couple of games.  The LA Dodgers painting by sports artist John Robertson is ink and acrylic on a variety of maps of Los Angeles.  The painting is 5 feet by 6 feet.

LA Dodgers Baseball Image Sports art Andre Ethier right fielder

Baseball Art LA Dodgers  

The baseball painting - LA Dodgers art of Andre Ethier playing right field is by sports artist John Robertson.  It is painted on a 30” by 40” gallery wrapped canvas with maps of Los Angeles applied to the surface.  The image is created with ink and acrylic paint.

 Andre Ethier Right Fielder

 As of this writing Andre Ethier of the Los Angeles Dodgers is hanging out at the Rancho Cucamonga location and hoping to start up from his disabled and is also expected to be in the Quakes lineup for what will be his first rehab game. He is not expected to be activated from the 60-day DL until Friday, Sept. 1. In the last couple of seasons Ethier has been out because of an injury suffered in Spring Training.  He has had a lot of problems from a herniated disk, with pain and discomfort in his lower back. 

After Ethier had a leg injury in 2016, and sitting out almost all of the season with the LA Dodgerds he started off the 2017 season with this back problem.  What is interesting to know about his playing time with the Dodgers is that he has only been in sixteen games since 2015. Who knows how much work he will get once he is hopefully back after the beginning of September.  

Baseball Art LA Dodgers Catcher Painting


LA Dodgers Catcher 

Painting of LA Dodgers catcher.  The LA Dodgers have two good catchers with each doing a yeoman job with the pitching teammates.  This painting could be of either  Yasmani Grandal  or Austin Barnes as I used a generic catcher for reference to the painting.  As a Los Angeles Dodgers both are having a good season.  Yasmani Grandal:  led all every-day catchers in the majors with 27 homers last season and at the time of this posting his batting average is batting 316.  Austin Barnes: batting 265 right now is a player the  Dodgers were willing to part with veteran Carlos Ruiz, in part, because of their confidence in Barnes.  

About Catchers

 These two catchers have had some good highlights and being on a winning team that have a good shot at the World Series this year..  I am not sure if these catchers do what so many others do, learning in the minor leagues to watch every game on replay.  A catcher wants to do is look at the sequences, go through the at-bats, and consider what other things they could have done - maybe differently.  It was a way of re-thinking the games and that may give them insights for future games.  And this makes any pitcher respect his catcher, knowing that his catcher has done all the homework possible to make the right pitching calls. 

Baseball Art 


The catcher baseball painting by Sports Artist John Robertson is 48 inches by 48 inches, ink and acrylic on old baseball newsprint attached to canvas.  

LA Dodgers Yasiel Puig right fielder

Fate of Yasiel Puig

Yasiel Puig - mega-talented right fielder of the Los Angeles Dodgers - and as of this writing and finishing of this painting may be destined to leave the Dodgers in s trade.   Here are a couple of links to other sites that write about the rumors more clearly than I ever could - as I am a sports artist and
not a writer.  I only try to provide a little background to the paintings I paint.  So if you are interested in what may happen or want to see what people were guessing before whatever happen, did happen, then check out these two links:

https://theringer.com/los-angeles-dodgers-yasiel-puig-trade-rumors-bdd1183e1fb2#.2rzufiz0e

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/dodgers-are-open-to-trading-struggling-yasiel-puig-071816

Yasiel Puig Journey to US

As most of you who are reading this know that Yasiel Puig left the island of Cuba and was smuggled into the United States with the help of people with special interests in Miami and Cancun.  Even with outside help, by anyone's imagination, it must have been a risky journey that few would be willing to take.  People make the trip for a variety of reasons - but most do so for economic or political motives.  And, apparently there is a lot of crazy stories surrounding Yasiel Puig's migration to the United States.   If you are at all interested in what Yasiel Puig faced in his travels to the United States, you might wish to read the article attached to the following link.  http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/10781144/no-one-walks-island-los-angeles-dodgers-yasiel-puig-journey-cuba

 Short Information about Yasiel Puig

He grew up in Cienfuegos, and played for the Cuban national team in the 2008 World Junior Championship, where they won a bronze medal. He then played in the Cuban National Series, but a failed attempt at defecting to the United States had him out for a season as punishment. He then tried several more times to defect to Mexico (so as to get to the U.S. by land), finally succeeding in 2012. Puig signed with the Dodgers in 2012.

About the Painting

The painting by sports artist John Robertson is approximately  4 feet by 6 feet, acrylic on unstretched canvas

Sports Image Baseball art LA Dodgers second baseman

The reference material for this Baseball Art Painting is of Los Angeles Dodgers Second Baseman Mark Ellis.  Image is black acrylic on a 30” x 40” gallery wrapped canvas with maps of Los Angeles applied to the surface of the canvas.  Sports art painting is by John Robertson