When they were looking for something to give Scott Rolen as the Hall of Fame third baseman was inducted into the Philadelphia Phillies Wall of Fame, the club turned to baseball glove artist Sean Kane.
Kane’s custom-painted glove was presented to him during a ceremony at Citizens Bank Park last Friday night.
The one-of-a-kind painting by Kane, whose artwork is in the permanent collections of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY, and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, is on a baseball glove similar to that worn by Rolen during his first years with the Phillies.
An eight-time Gold Glove third baseman and seven-time All-Star, Rolen played the first seven years of his career in Philadelphia. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in July.
The artwork, a hand-painted leather Mizuno infielder glove, includes a detailed portrait of Rolen and hand-lettered career highlights as a Phillies ball player, including his 1997 NL Rookie of the Year award.
Discussions with the Phillies about the Rolen gift began in May. “The painting took approximately 120 hours to complete, which included researching Scott’s career, sourcing the appropriate glove, sketching designs and then painting,” said Kane, a Chicago-area native now based near Toronto.
This is the seventh time Kane has been commissioned by the Phillies to create a custom painting of a player since 2016. Previous recipients of Kane’s artwork have included Phillies stars Jim Thome, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard.
Kane has been a professional artist for 30 years, primarily as an illustrator before turning his expertise to his life-long love of baseball for inspiration a little over a decade ago. His painted gloves are in the private collections of former players and baseball collectors and fans across North America.
Kane’s baseball glove art can be seen at his website.
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