"Let's Meet the Artist"

Welcome back and a pleasant good day to all.

Thank you again for joining us and we hope you are having a beautiful day where ever you may be.

In this episode of "Let's Meet the Artist", we welcome 2020 stand out artist Kevin Gust. The year 2020 will have a large variety of historical topics, but when we look back, we are going to see the start of an Artistic Revolution in Baseball.

When Topps rolled out "Project 2020" it illuminated a familiar joy in all of us. Whether you appreciated the multitude of ways artists depicted the same baseball card image, or it inspired you to create your own image, the movement started a tidal wave of eye candy for baseball fans of all ages.

The spark set off an inferno of beautiful colors and magnifying an underlying industry full of hidden talent. The Baseball Art Revolution  has also allowed inspired artists to share new designs with an audience eager to see it. 

Without further adieu, lets get to know one of those inspired artists who is now inspiring others, welcome Mr. Kevin Gust. 

Kevin grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia about a 25 minute drive from Veterans stadium, where his childhood idol Michael Jack Schmidt called home. 

Like many of us, baseball was shaping our lives before we really could even understand it, but the action and the colors had our young eyes caught in a tractor beam that would never let go. 

My first question is always, how did baseball enter your life? 

Kevin replied, "I was only 3 years old when the Phillies won the World Series in 1980, and I was  6 when the 'Wheeze Kids' lost to the Orioles lead by a Rookie named Cal in 1983."

Playoff baseball captivates a city with energy and excitement that fills the soul. A fan for decades or a young child taking in a new experience, playoff baseball transpires a momentary feeling into a lifetime of satisfaction... It also cements a foundation for a passion. 

We see baseball and we want to be part of it.... in any way we can.

Kevin started swinging for the fences in little league at age six. Kevin said, "My Dad was my coach the first year, it was the only year he was able to do that due to his work schedule so it was very memorable for me."  

As Baseball was slowly starting to shape Kevin's outside world, his parents laid the most important foundation of all, which truly exemplifies Kevin, which is his love for his family. 

Personally, I have had the wonderful experience of getting to know Kevin over the last few months. Our paths crossed due to our shared passion for baseball cards and art, but I appreciate the growing friendship because of the kindness and his appreciation of family values. 

Kevin looks back on his early baseball days with a memory in time that changed all direction. 

"While I don't remember following baseball closely until about 86-87, my attention was grabbed when Schmidt was chasing home run number 500, it was all anyone was talking about."

Baseball was vividly clear after that for Kevin, "I remember watching the Mets win the World Series in 1986 with my parents that year."

   

"My Parents got me a Phillies Sunday Game Ticket Plan for Christmas that December. We had seats on the first base line at Veterans Stadium, it was the first section back, from the section that went right to the field."

Kevin had a ticket to Heaven every Sunday. 

The Phillies' passion would soon be tested as his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio in '88. The move forced them to give up their Phillies tickets, but his loyalty never waivered. 

The Gust's had left Philly town, but Kevin was taking them with him wherever he went. Kevin played baseball until High School mostly as a catcher and transitioned to 2B as he got older. 

In High School Kevin relocated to NJ and was reunited with Veterans Stadium one last time before they tore it down. "I saw the second to last game they played there."

When I asked Kevin if he had a favorite game he attended, he remembered going with his Uncle and his Dad where Gary Redus hit a HR next to them and it landed them on TV, "I thought that was really cool."

Kevin always had his hand in baseball, and clearly the Good Lord wanted Baseball Art in Kevin's hands. 

"My Dad collected cards for me in the late '70s and '80s and my Mom would always be buying us packs along the way, and they would always find time to take me to card shows." So, Kevin always had a baseball card in his hand. 

I asked Kevin when he started dabbling in art? 

"Over the last ten years I have been pretty artsy, it started with making matching family shirts for trips to Disney World, yes... we did the matching thing."

Life rewards us all in so many ways, and though Kevin is all about his baseball art, it all derives from the creativity and love he draws from his family. 

"First it was just wearing Phillies shirts, or Flyers Shirts. Then one year my wife and I were talking and wanted to do Backyardigans Shirts. One of my twin daughters is autistic and loves that show. We thought she’d really like a custom shirt. I designed a themed shirt for each of us centered around a favorite episode.  We got a lot of compliments, so the next year I made Autism themed Phillies shirts."

What effect did Topps Project 2020 have on you?

"I've really gotten inspired this year by Project 2020. Most notably Keith Shore, It's really ironic because I've bought 180 plus of the cards so far and one card was never delivered. Card 88."

"I hand sketched a Luis Robert in the style of Shore, then created a digital version using common shapes. I was pretty pleased. Then, I realized I could do a little better than my first few attempts, and my style continued to evolve and improve."

Kevin is an Engineer by degree and started applying his trade to his God given gift and his art started to unfold. It did not take long before the baseball card industry started to notice. 

California Super Guitarist and HUGE Twitter Baseball Card Influencer, Ron Bartleet (@ngreenroom) was the first to start the Twitter Hashtag "#GriffeyShoreNoMore", in respect to the Shore tribute Kevin was unfolding. 

Kevin spoke of how it started and how much he appreciated the environment he was finding himself in. 

"The first card I sold was Dr. Fauci on eBay. It was a pretty cool feeling to see something I made sell like that."

(LATER TO BECOME PART OF KEVIN GUST's FIRST SET)

Kevin was quickly finding his path.

"I started following other artists and one day Gypsy Oak bid on my Dustin May on eBay. I started talking to him about art, cards and process. I was a huge fan of his and he has really been another inspiration for me. He treats me like a colleague and is honest with me when he doesn't like what he sees. He is a mentor of mine. His art has many different looks. He's done so much that people who are just getting into card art really need to see. He's brilliant."

"I'd like to add additionally, non-art inspirations are there as well. People like John Blunt have really shown faith in me."  John a retired NJ Police Officer has been a huge supporter and Kevin's number one fan. (Outside his Wife and Daughters of course.)

In their conversations, Kevin learned that  John's favorite player was Stan Musial. John has met Stan at a tryout with the Cardinals as a teen and Stan laid a deep impression on John's life.  Kevin had taken on many commission jobs and this time wanted to make his friend John a Stan Musial as a gift. 

Kevin is also the artist behind what some have called the card of the year. No artist this year has captured the crash of the Topps Project 2020 like Kevin did. 

The must invest product bubble burst, that was felt by a 35,000 baseball card collectors. 

As Ivan (@WatchTheBreaks) The King of all Baseball Card Influencers referred to it as, "Stonks", in reference to the crash. 

"I was thinking what I could do with all these Griffey Shores and the idea popped into my head. A two card set, like 'before and after' capturing the moments before and after card 88 was released. Ivan agreed to have his likeness and tweet on the card which allows a connection of the twitter community to Project 2020."

I asked Kevin what the most rewarding part of this has been and he immediately mentioned the relationships he has made with customers, fans and other artists as being the most rewarding. But when pressed on his most rewarding piece this far there was no doubt his first commission. 

Kevin has 4 daughters and he hopes to one day share collecting with them. When a Twitter follower reached out and asked if Kevin could make his soccer playing daughter a character on Griffey Shore, he couldn't pass it up. "He told me how they were collecting together and how much he thought she'd love it."

Once Kevin had shipped it, he anxiously awaited news of her reaction.  "The dad shared a few photos and a video of her reaction when she opened the card and that was amazing!"

Additionally a few weeks later he saw a post of her collection display on Twitter and saw the card had a very special place. "I was very honored to see that card on the top shelf center showing how special the card was to her."

Kevin, it was truly our honor. Thank you for allowing us to get to know the artist behind your wonderful creations. Keep swinging Kevin, you are making a lot of people happy and we are excited to follow your growth.

Thank you all for joining us today and look out for upcoming additions of "Let's Meet the Artist". The list of artists we have signed up is growing everyday and we will be speaking with your favorite artists in the very near future. 

In our upcoming sit downs we will be meeting with All Era Sports ( @AllEraSports) and Clabeaux Cards ( @ClabeauxCards).

Until we meet again, have a pleasant day everyone!

Welcome and a very pleasant good day to tall!

I am Delighted you have joined us because I believe we have a dandy for you today.

We are gifted the pleasure of leaving reality, donning a cape, and flying side by side with our Baseball hero's of yesteryear. 

Lets welcome the man who paints our magical journey every time we look at his Baseball Comic Art, The Creator of Pop Fly Pop Shop, Mr. Daniel Jacob Horine.

Daniel's comic designs transform Superman and Spiderman into Dale Murphy and Rickey Henderson. Which makes me ask, could Dale and Rickey take Superman and Batman in a comic world battle?

We asked Rickey, "Rickey is the best, Rickey is the best, nothing is impossible for Rickey," .... We would never doubt you Rickey. 

You can't tell the players without a program so lets meet the team.

The backbone behind the magical art that Daniel creates would be his family. A foundation stronger than the He-Man family tree. (PLUG: You should see his He-Man MLB logo artwork on IG @danieljacobthemaker) 

Like all winning teams you need a superhero at each position to make the dream happen. Daniel credits his wife in all he does and he spoke very highly of his little Superhero. His  talented son carries a large cape and plays a large part in the production process that involves transportation and application.... and he just turned age 4. (Look out Juan Soto :)

Daniel was adopted by a wonderful family and grew up in the LA area moving from West Covina to Ventura roughly 10 years ago, but always lived where you would call The Dodgers your hometown heroes.

When I asked Daniel who his favorite Dodger was, he was quick to reference the early '80s and how wonderful the days were when we would sit down and listen to Vin Scully call a game on the radio, better than you can see it on tv today.

Daniel called the Dodgers his hometown team, but following a legend through his youth turned normality into a real life comic book journey. Those of you who grew up in the '80s know that WGN and TBS provided a looking glass into other parts of the country. 

The evolution of cable allowed us to discover the outside baseball world and transformed the ink from our newspaper box scores into actual baseball players bigger than life.  

Daniel's looking glass discovered the legend of The Atlanta Braves Dale Murphy. At some point the story goes from Daniel Chasing Dale to Dale becoming part of the Danny Horine story. Dale Murphy meets Daniel Horine is a story straight out of Hollywood, well, it's actually straight out of Beckett Price guide (I will provide a link below). The Dale Murphy and Danny Horine story will provide smiles and laughter, and I highly recommend you continue reading. 

With that said, we are going to slice a moment from that time and talk about Daniel's favorite baseball game he attended. As Daniel explains, "it was kind of two games in one, but spread out over time." 

Daniel's family got tickets to see the Braves and we are off to Dodger stadium! 

This is a big day in our life kids, this is the very first time Daniel gets to see Dale in person! 

It was all mapped out, no detail left to be spared for the occasion that would soon be a National Holiday. Daniel had his stack of 100 DIFFERENT Dale Murphy cards excited for Dale to sit down next to him and sign them all. 

As Daniel enters the stadium he hears the crack of the bat before peering over the light blue Dodger seats and blinded by the bright green grass. Batting practice had just started, and there he was, standing by the visitors dugout..... Dale Murphy. 

No sooner did Daniel spot #3 he then spotted the forming line to obtain the greatest single object on earth, a Dale Murphy autograph, the ink from his signature literally glowed. Daniel got his Flash Gordon sprint on running across 10 sections of stands to claim his spot in line. 

One by one, kids ran by him celebrating their anointed baseballs and baseball cards. Even a couple adults walked by looking like they experienced joy from another world. 

Here we go, 2 more kids, 1 more, and then.... the moment he had waited for all his life, with his heart in his throat, Daniel locks eyes with The Murph, extends his cards in one hand, and his pen in the other ....

Dale Murphy, "Sorry kids, Gotta get ready for the game!"

(Silence)...... 

(Shock sets in)

(Emotional build up.) 

There was no joy at Dodger Stadium that day..... for anyone in section 104.

If you would have asked his parents that evening how the plan worked out, they would have said, the story was more about how the world had just ended.

Ah! but a beautiful thing did happen that day, a wonderful story started to unfold, a story far too powerful for comic books and fairy tales, keep following along kids. 

On that day, God recognized a special love, a loud passionate cry (Daniel's parents would say, YEP! The entire stadium heard that passionate cry).

Daniel received a lifetime gift that day that still resonates loudly in his voice as he shared his story with me. 

At this point in the story though..........  Dreams, Crushed. Period.

This time the mapped out plan to meet Dale was not in Daniel's hands, in fact literal true baseball history was unfolding. 

All of us have a passion for baseball and anyone who is reading this has baseball in their home in some form or another. Even if it's just baseball on the TV a lot, we have a desire to get closer to the game and become part of the game. When baseball gods touch us, we all recognize it, and that moment never leaves us for life. 

A few years had passed, and Dale Murphy is now with the Colorado Rockies. 

Daniel's parents once again got tickets to go see him play. 

This is the first time seeing Dale in person since "The Incident." 

As they arrived for BP, a family honored tradition, Daniel walked down to toward the LF foul pole and right off the bat, no pun at all, literally right off the bat, a foul ball came his way. 

As Daniel explained with laughter, "that's the only time I ever caught anything at that stadium." This was starting out a lot better than the previous attempt to get Murph's auto.

It was all happening so fast, like a well written script, he looks toward the dugout, and it was happening again. In the exact same spot as the scene of the "The Incident", there was Dale and of course a line is starting to form. 

Once again Daniel sprinted to claim his spot in line to obtain all that is good in this world. This time it was a complete success, it finally happened. Daniel floated back to his seat and spent the next three hours looking at the Dale Murphy autograph on the foul ball he just caught.

Two days later, as he would do daily, Daniel got the LA Times and checked the box scores to see how Dale did. He would always clip out the games where Dale had a big day. Dale had the day off, and Daniel would wait for the next day's box score. The next day came, and Dale didn't play that game either. A couple more days of that and sure enough Murph announced his retirement. It didn't take long for it to sink in with Daniel. 

"By some happy, lucky. cosmic, random accidents, I caught a ball, had Murph sign it, and saw his last at bat."

Congratulations on being part of baseball history Daniel! Clearly Dale could not hang up his spikes until he signed your ball.

What a fabulous story, and there is much more to it, make sure you check it out. 

Transitioning back to Daniel's art, I asked Daniel to share a little of his journey to get to POP Fly Pop Sop.

The following will resonate with a lot of people out there and I know Daniel will be happy to hear that, because in his words, "The desire to resonate with people is my ultimate goal."

 

At an early age it was vividly clear that Daniel had an extraordinary talent to put his visions on paper for all to see, 

"There was never a moment in life that I didn't see myself as an artist, and I don't remember a time not doing it."

The Beauty within this Baseball Art community has been the constant desire to support others. Personally I have experienced it with a future guest and it was no shock when Daniel explained how a conversation with a friend helped him sway his decision to open shop. 

Daniel had done a Murph comic baseball art design and a friend who admired it, asked him to do a Will Clark, and it quickly unfolded..... Bill from Modern Baseball Art, we salute you for your positivity toward others. 

Pop Fly Pop Shop celebrated its opening on June 12th. Every Baseball Superhero comic print is sold for one week and then when they are gone, they are gone.  

Daniel's mentioned his thought process as, "I wanted to make sure that the output was consistent, urgent, and collectible. 

Daniel's desire to resonate with everyone who gets his art in their hand is abundantly clear to his collectors, and Daniel said when speaking of his work, "I want it to be nostalgic and relate to your childhood experience, it has to be authentic." 

"We spend our first ten years of life being a kid, we spend the next 10 years doing all we can to separate ourselves from being that kid, and then spend the rest of your life trying to get back to those first 10 years, its all about finding your youth." 

I was about to say Daniel is a wealth of positivity, feeding knowledge of his art experiences. It is more than that, when he speaks it can be related to so many aspects of life, furthering the understanding of the passion bucket he pours into is work. Daniel pours a little of his soul into each design and well, that resonates with us Daniel. 

Daniel is the bug spray for a creativity block bug. Daniel said, "I am a strong believer of thinking should not replace doing." 

The experience I had talking with Daniel left me a better person, why? Because he allowed me to see a different perspective. My views are never boxed in, yet others can still show you different avenues you just have not taken yet. Many feel I see so many things others do not, yet listening to Daniel talk just opened more avenues of creativity for me, so I am better off for his time.

"Do not be hung up on quality when you are reaching for better",  as Daniel explained to me, "Quantity can get you one step closer to the perfect piece, and quantity over time can become quality as it becomes part of a whole collection." (Again, great life advice.)

When I received my first order from Daniel, I was blown away by the packaging. Later that night I had tweeted that you know you have something special in hand when the packaging is better than most products you purchase. 

Daniel said, "I wanted the packaging to feel like you just came from the comic store in 1980, even bringing the experience down to the brown paper bag the comic comes in."

Personally I believe we all desire for accomplishments in life and not always know when we achieve one of our goals.

 Daniel said, "Its all about getting back to the height of the junk wax era." 

As someone who is constantly trying to get back there as well, coming from someone who never owned a comic book, that is where your art takes me, so on behalf of anyone who has the pleasure of owning your artwork, we thank you Daniel. You hit your target.

In closing, I left the best for last. As this journey continues to unfold for Pop Fly Pop Shop, and we will check back down the line as he has some new tricks up his sleeve for us all, I wanted to know what Daniel's proudest accomplishment had been to this point. 

That was the last question I had, but when we first started talking, that was the first item he spoke about, so it was clear to me that I did not even have to ask. 

"More than anything, more than Baseball, more than Comics, my heart is about my Family, that is my legacy." - Daniel Jacob Horine 

We are all grateful for your time Daniel. Thank You!

Dale Murphy gets to meet Daniel link.

https://www.beckett.com/news/reverse-negative-dale-murphy-autograph/

Thank you and please join us in the not to distant future, as we sit down with Stand Out artist.

Kevin Gust. Until then, Happy Baseball Art Collecting!

Baseball Art, By BJOT

A Very Pleasant Good Day To All ... Welcome!

As often as I can, over the foreseeable future, I will be sitting down with Baseball Artists in our community who wrap our heroes in creative and colorful designs. 

Inspired by the art so many of you have created, along this journey I will display some of my own hand burned baseball art on birch wood. 

In what is shaping up to be a talented list of our favorite artists, aspiring artists, and some of our favorite collectors too ..... @Danny_Champion, Mr. Daniel Jacob Horine will be our first guest. 

Danny has exploded onto the collectors scene with a Hall of Fame baseball comic display that has you begging for more of his work. 

Lets get to know Danny, Shall we? Daniel Jacob Horine, you are on deck Sir. 

(Coming Soon)