Reviving the Classic Sports Illustration

Illustrations, like this one of LA Angels PCL Hall of Famer Ray Prim (Note the Angels had
the "LA" logo on their hats long before the Dodgers!) were common across America.

MAJOR BLOGS - www.majorblogs.net  - The minor league games have MAJOR sports fans, so, along with your passion for the purer form of the sport, we brought back something equally cool and old-school. Most of us are too young to remember the sports illustrations that used to appear in newspapers across America. Ever wonder why they call it "Sports Illustrated" and not sports photographed?

Illustrations became a vanishing art form by the 1960s. So I asked Toms River, New Jersey artist Ken Jones to bring it back to the digital age.  We wanted to preserve that feeling that the illustrator was giving you something special, a bit extra on the player, that a photograph itself wouldn't express. Our first choice for a player was a no-brainer. Minnesota Twins prospect Matt Garza, who plays for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings in the International League, is one of the hottest rising pitchers in baseball.

Matt was the subject of our first MLN Sports illustration, which debuted in July at MLN Sports Zone, and we'll have one a month appearing in the magazine, in all sports

The second one, of Mike Coolbaugh, the coach struck down by the line drive, is also great.

If you want to see them in full size on your screen, you can see the most recent one free at the baseball section or you can subscribe to MLN Sports Zone (SZ) and try it for 30 days, FREE an see them all! Just click on the illustrations at SZ in the [ illustrations section] and the full-sized, screen-filling version will appear before your eyes!

Then, if you really like them, and want to have this unique collectible in your home before guys like Garza hit full career take off in the majors, you can buy the drawings from MLNStore, by clicking on the ad below, or by hunting them up on Amazon.com. 

Advertisement We're really proud, here at MLN, of the terrific work that Ken has done on these. Pro sports in general, and baseball in particular, have lost a lot of the magic. We're trying to put a little of it back.