iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 18h

📣 Announcing the Beauty of a Game Book Club! 📣 A monthly online gathering to discuss sports books with a decidedly visual slant. Our first book will be The Finest in the Field on Oct. 21st. Details coming soon but go ahead and mark it on your calendar.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Excellent day at the used bookstore today! Looking forward to digging into the FreeDarko Basketball book. I already have a copy of The Great American Baseball Scrapbook, so it most likely will become a giveaway item. Check out my review of it - it’s an awesome book.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

“He was a free-swinging, dirty-uniform kind of guy, and he was always smiling. It made you smile just to look at him.” - novelist Michael Chabon, talking about Manny Sanguillén.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Happy 81st Birthday to Baseball HOFer Rod Carew! As a kid, Rod seemed to be on EVERY SINGLE Batting Leaders card I ever saw. Here’s one of my favorites, from the 1974 Topps set, featuring Rod and Pete Rose.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Why should literature get all the glory? I’m trying to gauge interest in a book club that features sports art, photography, design or ephemera books. Would YOU be up for gathering online to discuss the latest (or possibly classic) visually awesome sports books?

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

🔥 ⚾️ 🎨 I love illustrator Mike Right’s work for the St. Louis Cardinals. It’s a fun, playful style that's a great nod to classic illustrated scorecards from the 1940s and 50s. #BaseballArt #SportsArt #SportsArtist

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SABR Baseball Cards @sabrbbcards.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Happy 9/25! Pretty sure Dolly was talking about the Hobby here: It’s a rich man’s game No matter what they call it And you spend your life Putting money in his wallet

2021 Historic Autographs “Famous Americans”

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

RIP to Bob Pettit, the NBA's first MVP and star of this 1958 Rawlings ad for the Bob Pettit Model Herculite Yellow Basketball.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Today on Beauty of a Game, we look at how some card collectors embrace an ancient Japanese aesthetic. Special thanks to TJ Valacack, Gio Balistreri and Adam Strckland for their assistance. beautyofagame.substack.com/p/wabi-sabi-... @sabrbbcards.bsky.social

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

John “Let It Be” Lowenstein and one happy little Indians fan, circa mid-1970s.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

What’s the funniest athlete skit on Saturday Night Live? Derek Jeter - Yankee Wives Peyton Manning - United Way Micahel Jordan - Daily Affirmation with Stuart Smalley Joe Montana - Honest Man Or did I miss one?

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The cover of Sports Action #7, from May 1951, uses this 1950 spring training photo of Jim Konstanty as its reference. From Fantagraphics' new Atlas Comics Library No. 10: Sports Action. @fantagraphics.bsky.social

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

65 years ago today - the Chicago Bears faced the Los Angeles Rams and you could have bought this Karl Hubenthal masterpiece for a mere quarter. For more of Hubenthal's amazing sports artwork check out my article "The Athletic Artistry of Karl Hubenthal": beautyofagame.substack.com/p/the-athlet...

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Fantagraphics @fantagraphics.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Baseball, boxing, football — Marvel honored every sport by rendering short graphic biographies of the most prominent athletes of the time, including Sugar Ray Robinson, Knute Rockne, and Jackie Robinson— in the never-before-collected Sports Action. Out today! ow.ly/y0Wb50ZPY9U

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Atlas Comics Library No. 10: Sports Action hits bookstores today. This latest ACL volume from the fine folks at Fantagraphics is sure to delight fans of vintage comics & sports art. @fantagraphics.bsky.social Check out my review here: beautyofagame.substack.com/p/before-spi...

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

As a kid collecting baseball cards, I usually hated getting manager cards. But sometimes you knew you were looking at a legend. Today would have been long-time Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda’s 99th birthday.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Miscut 1971 - 19722 Topps Basketball Cards might just be the collecting subset I never knew I needed. 😍😍😍

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Cardinals HOFer “Red” Schoendienst got the comic book bio treatment in Sports Action #4, from Fantagraphics new book The Atlas Comic Library No. 10, releasing next week. beautyofagame.substack.com/p/before-spi...

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Even using advanced sabermetrics, there are no statistical models that can accurately measure the level of badassery attained by Dick Allen’s 1972 season.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

In 1984 Baseball Cards Magazine commissioned artist Gerry Dvorak, one of the original painters of the 1953 Topps set, to paint ‘53 Topps style cards of Dale Murphy and Ted Williams. I’m not saying that’s what started my interest in sports art. But I’m also NOT not saying it, either… 😉

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Kenny DeNunez repping the Negro Leagues was such a great little gem that I didn’t fully appreciate the first time I saw The Sandlot.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Fans of comic books and sports art will definitely want to check out The Atlas Comics Library No. 10: Sports Action, coming soon from @fantagraphics.bsky.social beautyofagame.substack.com/p/before-spi...

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Today on Beauty of a Game, we take a look at a new collection of sports comic books from the 1940s and 50s. beautyofagame.substack.com/p/before-spi...

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Arch’s Grandpa, leading the Ole Miss offense, from the 1974 book The College Game. substack.com/home/post/p-...

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Happy National Video Games Day! Which of these “What If?” Atari video game cartridges would have been your favorite?

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Stevie Wonder will tour beginning next month, playing his album Songs in the Key of Life in its entirety, in celebration of the classic album’s 50th anniversary. 🎨 by Gummy Arts, in the style of 1976 Topps Baseball @gummyarts.bsky.social beautyofagame.substack.com/p/gummy-arts...

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I may not have been the coolest 1st grader at Windsor Elementary, but my lunchbox begged to differ.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

What I dream about finding at flea markets vs. what I typically find at flea markets. Doesn’t stop me from going, the thrill is in the hunt. Although I may have to wait for it to cool off some here in SC before I venture back out again. This past weekend was brutal.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

🔥⚾️🎨 Hank Aaron of the Indianapolis Clowns, on a repurposed 1952 postcard, by artist Gypsy Oak. This pic was taken at a baseball art exhibit so you can see some glare & my faint outline. Now that it’s in my collection, I should probably take a cleaner one. #BaseballArt #SportsArt #SportsArtist

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Happy Heavenly Birthday to Hometown Hero Tom Brewer, of Cheraw, SC. To learn more about Tom check out my article "In Honor of a Hometown Hero" on the Beauty of a Game Substack: beautyofagame.substack.com/p/in-honor-o... And thanks to @bsox72.bsky.social for the reminder!

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Boys’ Life magazine, April 1952. Cover illustration by Carol Johnson. #8 Catching - is that supposed to be Yogi?

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Happy Birthday to comic book artist and writer Walt Simonson. In 1983 his epic cover of Thor #337 stopped me dead in my tracks. 🤯

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

If loving miscut cards is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

#OTD in 1985 college football fans could pay a couple of bucks for a Georgia vs. Alabama program, featuring this awesome cover illustration by UGA alum Jack Davis.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

“I looked over to ‘Scoop’, and I said, ‘Man, we got all brothers out here,’” - Dave Cash #OTD in 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates fielded the first all-Black and Afro-Latino starting lineup in Major League Baseball history.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

🔥⚾️🎨 🎨: Hank Aaron, by artist Brent Naughton. I love the way Brent builds up those colored pencils over layers of washes to really get those colors to pop. Trust me, online viewing doesn’t do it justice! #BaseballArt #SportsArt #SportsArtist

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Even a dozen years later, the graphics for 2014’s “No No: A Dockumentary” still leave me floored. And the film itself is just as awesome.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

If there's a child in your life, read them a book tonight. I think Dolly would love that.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

A 1974 ad for the 2nd printing of perhaps the best book about baseball cards ever published, The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book. If you’re not familiar with it, look it up or better yet, track down a copy.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

To paraphrase Willie Shakespeare, “A Rose by any other name would hit .300”

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

May 15, 1909 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, with the original cover art painting by legendary illustrator J. C. Leyendecker. One of over 300 covers Leyendecker created for the magazine.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

🔥⚾️🎨: The Fightin’ Phils by artist Louis Wes. Being a Braves fan, I have no love for the Phillies, but I do love this piece. Those iconic powder blue & maroon uniforms and the illustration style really work well together to give it a cool, retro ‘70s vibe. #BaseballArt #SportsArt #SportsArtist

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

For Throwback Thursday, how’d you like to go back to 1954 and take a peek inside an Ebbets Field souvenir stand? beautyofagame.substack.com/p/inside-an-...

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FootballArchaeology @fbarchaeology.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

They also used color in their catalogs more than period competitors.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Stall & Dean athletic equipment tags. Beautiful little exercises in design.

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Beauty of a Game @beautyofagame.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente was born on this date in 1934. 🎨: 1956 Topps Roberto Clemente Card, made from cut baseball cards by artist Tim Carroll beautyofagame.substack.com/p/how-gregg-...

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