I was leaning toward going my standard baseball-themed route here–probably a pitcher with a one-run lead sweating with the bases loaded–but Maia suggested… more recent events. At first I thought, “too soon.” But it was a great idea.
The stopwatch is supposed to be counting down to zero, but that’s not how stopwatches work, is it? Oops.
Good day for Inktobering! Once again, running any prompt I can through a baseball filter.
This is Rapid City’s Peter Tilbrook. He hasn’t developed the power hoped for, but he’s good for a lot of doubles, he runs pretty well, and he plays a mean first base. Unfortunately, this season, he’s off to an .071 start. And by “this” season I of course mean “1991.”
It was easier to dig this 1991 drawing out of my file cabinet than, you know, actually draw something. But, come on, the prompt is rip(e) for this one.
I have no recollection of what I was up to in December 1991, though it looks like I was doing a lot of cartooning. I can imagine why that was.
This one’s pretty stupid, but I like the drawing.
It’s May 1986. The mighty Canton Warriors are destined for a glorious season of Class S baseball, but lately they’ve been a bit inconsistent (roller coasters, and all that). Maybe the shocking departure of Matt Nobody is still casting its long shadow on this team…
The Warriors needs a spark, but there’s none to be found. You’d be forgiven for wondering why none of the team’s quad captains has been able to step up and provide that spark. But lately, they’ve been pretty flat. Listless. Going through the motions. Really, they’ve been as much captains as this blade of grass…
I’m not getting out of the gate too strong this Inktober–I have almost a week’s worth of prompts to catch up on. Ah, well.
This was yet another prompt that, initially, didn’t do anything for me. All I could think of was knife blade or skate blade. I considered drawing a Hartford Whaler or Maia on rollerblades, but both seemed too involved. At some point I was talking to Lisa about my struggles with this prompt, and she said “what about a blade of grass?” And, well, that settled that.
Looks like I might just pull off an Inktober clean sweep! I love prompts that can be rendered in baseball-related drawings (obviously). This one was a gimme.
Catcher’s equipment sure has evolved since my day.
When I saw this prompt, I had no trouble tying it in with baseball. Indeed, the first thing that came to mind was a random drawing from my college-era (1984–1988) sketch pad. As it happened, the drawing wasn’t finished (the casualty and his first responders had not been inked in), so I took care of that and decided to just go with it.
While I was finishing this one up, I remembered a similar scene from Bull Durham and wondered whether that had been the inspiration for this drawing. But Bull Durham came out in 1988, and (as near as I can tell) this was drawn in about 1986. I did not sign or date drawings back then, but the other drawings on this page in the sketch book were of (among other things) intramural volleyball and ideas I was working on when I did cartoons for The Acorn (college newspaper), so I’m pretty confident of the date.
I’m embarrassed to admit how long it took me to connect baseball with this prompt. I spent most of the day mentally composing pictures involving dancing, jazz bands, playground equipment, and/or 70s-type key parties.
Have had a couple of recent occasions to reminisce about high school baseball, so the timing of this worked out. Here I am, circa 1981-1984.
monsiana 