A hand-painted Louisville Slugger bat and Fender guitar that pay homage to Seattle’s baseball and music heritage, which was created for exhibit in Cleveland during Major League Baseball’s All-Star Week, is being auctioned off for charity.
The work is part of a collaboration between Major League baseball and two iconic American companies—Louisville Slugger and Fender Guitars—to pay tribute to two beloved American pastimes: baseball and rock music.
Artists from all 30 Major League cities were commissioned to create a Louisville Slugger bat and Stratocaster guitar inspired by their hometown’s historical, musical and baseball heritage. Both the guitars and the bats are made with ash wood that is from Cooperstown, New York, the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Seattle artist Ryan O’Keefe spent many hours brainstorming how to blend the city’s rich musical history with Mariners baseball. The guitar features chain links (Alice In Chains) disappearing into a black hole (Soundgarden) in the center, which features the number 10 (Pearl Jam). The bat features purple haze (Jimi Hendrix) on the handle, a floating Mariner Moose reaching for a game ticket on a fish hook (Nirvana’s iconic Nevermind cover art), the numbers 11 and 24, belonging to Edgar Martinez and Ken Griffey Jr., the Mariners two Baseball Hall of Famers, in heart-shaped bubbles (Heart) and a thrift shop tag (Macklemore).
The project was quite a challenge for O’Keefe as he had never painted on three-dimensional objects before. “I did lots of sketching and bought a couple of Wiffle® Ball bats and practiced on those,” he said. O’Keefe figures he spent close to 60 hours designing and creating the pieces in acrylic paint and oil pastels. Both are finished with an acrylic sealer to protect the paint.
As for how he was chosen for the prestigious commission, O’Keefe is mystified.
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask them. It doesn’t make any sense to me because I’ve got 200 followers on Instagram,” said O’Keefe.
O’Keefe was contacted through his website, where he has a gallery of his works including many sports-inspired art featuring Seattle stars such as Ichiro, Steve Largent, Gary Payton, Stefan Frei, even Bruce Lee, as well as the Seattle skyline and Northwest landscapes.
The 30 team bats and guitars, and one for the Hall of Fame, were exhibited earlier this month in Cleveland during MLB All-Star Week. They are all up for bidding on MLB Auctions through July 29. All proceeds will benefit MLB Charities.