Many card collectors became familiar with Dick Perez when his artwork became the basis for the long-running Donruss Diamond Kings series in 1982.
Along the way, he’s gained legions of fans for his images of players from the 19th century to the present and became official artist of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
This summer, he self-published a huge book that features over 1400 works including his renderings of all 292 members of the Hall.
The 10-pound book sells for around $200 and:
- Contains all of the original art from the Hall of Fame Art Post Cards as well as members that were inducted after 2001 up to 2010, painted in the same style and manner as the original collection.
- Hall of Fame artworks that Perez has created throughout his career, including Great Moments, Celebration and Masterworks.
- 402 new unpublished works, 338 not seen before.
- Biographical sketches for each Hall of Fame player (including lifetime statistics), umpire, executive and baseball pioneer, and short historical accounts of each of the baseball eras—Origins, Deadball, Golden Age, War and Postwar, Expansion, and Modern, written by historian William C. Kashatus.
- The entire 15 year collection of the Donruss Diamond Kings that featured many players who became; or will become Hall of Famers.
- Many original works from the Perez-Steele era.
The book is 12”x12”, 560 pages, full color, with many frame-worthy full page illustrations and a number of poster-like double-page spreads. THE IMMORTALS is printed in the USA on 100-pound coated paper and bound in bonded leather with gold stamping.
Comcast Sportsnet’s Rob Nau recently spent time with Perez in his studio and produced a terrific 5-minute piece.
In it, Perez recalls “every spring, stopping at a candy store and opening up packs of the new cards issued for that year. It was a great feeling.”
Born in Puerto Rico, baseball helped connect Perez to his new home in a multi-ethnic section of Harlem. And the rest is history.
See the story here.
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