Art X Sports: LeRoy Neiman & Sandy Koufax
Leroy Neiman Brief Bio
Recently we acquired a beautiful painting by the very talented, LeRoy Neiman (born LeRoy Leslie Runquist, June 8, 1921 – June 20, 2012). LeRoy was an American artist known for his brilliantly colored, expressionist paintings and screen prints of various athletes, musicians, and sporting events.
Beginning in 1960, he traveled the world observing and painting leisure life, social activities and athletic competitions including the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Series, the Kentucky Derby, championship boxing, PGA and The Masters golf tournament, The Ryder Cup, the World Equestrian Games, Wimbledon, and other Grand Slam competitions, as well as night life, entertainment, jazz and the world of casino gambling.
Neiman worked in oil, enamel, watercolor, pencil drawings, pastels, serigraphy and some lithographs and etching. Neiman was listed in Art Collector's Almanac, Who's Who in the East, Who's Who in American Art, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in the World. He was a member of the Chicagp Society of Artists. His works have been displayed in museums, sold at auctions, and displayed in galleries and online distributors. He is considered by many to be the first major sports artist in the world, challenged only in his later years by a new generation of artists like Stephan Holland and Richard T. Alone. His work is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian, the Whitney Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the State Hermitage Museum in Russia, Wadham College at Oxford and in museums and art galleries the world over, as well as in private and corporate collections.
Sandy Koufax Brief Bio
Sanford Koufax (Born Sanford Braun; December 30, 1935) is an American former professional baseball left-handed Pitcher.. He pitched 12 seasons for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers of MLB from 1955 to 1966. Koufax, at age 36 in 1972, became the youngest player ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.He has been hailed as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history.
Koufax was the first major league pitcher to pitch fou no-hittersr and the eighth pitcher to pitch a perfect game in baseball history. Despite his comparatively short career, Koufax's 2,396 career strikeouts ranked 7th in history as of his retirement, at the time trailing only Warren Spahn (2,583) among left-handers. Koufax, Trevor Hoffman, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and Nolan Ryan are the only five pitchers elected to the Hall of Fame who had more strikeouts than innings pitched.
Because Koufax's signing bonus was greater than $4,000 ($39,000 today), he was known as a bonus baby. This forced the Dodgers to keep him on the major league roster for at least two years before he could be sent to the minors. To make room for him, the Dodgers optioned their future Hall of Fame manager, Tommy Lasorda, to the Montreal Royals of the International League. Lasorda would later joke that it took Koufax to keep him off the Dodger pitching staff.
Koufax made his major league debut on June 24, 1955, against the Milwaukee Braves, with the Dodgers trailing 7–1 in the fifth inning. Johnny Logan, the first batter Koufax faced, hit a bloop single. Eddie Matthews bunted, and Koufax threw the ball into center field. He then walked Hank Aaron on four pitches to load the bases, but struck out Bobby Thomson on a 3-2 fastball, an outcome Koufax later came to view as "probably the worst thing that could have happened to me," leading, as it did, to five seasons spent "trying to get out of trouble by throwing harder and harder and harder."
In 1967, Koufax signed a 10-year contract with NBC for US$1 million (equivalent to $7.8 million in 2020) to be a broadcaster on the Saturday Game of the Week. He quit after six years, just prior to the start of the 1973 season.
The Dodgers hired Koufax to be a minor league pitching coach in 1979. He resigned in 1990, saying he was not earning his keep, but most observers blamed it on his uneasy relationship with manager Tommy Lasorda. Koufax returned to the Dodger organization in 2004 when the Dodgers were sold to Frank McCourt.The Dodgers again hired Koufax in 2013 as a special advisor to team chairman Mark Walter to work with the pitchers during spring training and consult during the season.
In his first year of eligibility in 1972, Koufax was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, just weeks after his 36th birthday. His election made him the Hall's youngest member ever elected, five months younger than Lou Gehrig upon his election in 1939, though because the 1972 induction ceremony was nearly eight months after the election, Koufax's age at induction was slightly older than Gehrig's, making Gehrig the youngest player ever inducted. On June 4 of that same year, Koufax's uniform number 32 was retired alongside those of Dodger greats Roy Campanella (39) and Jackie Robinson (42).
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LEROY NEIMAN “Sandy Koufax” 2001 Serigraph Autographed by Koufax - $20K Appraisal Value
ITEM DESCRIPTION
This is an authentic artist proof print by Leroy Neiman serigraph print numbered "AP 3/70" (artist's proof) flawlessly signed in pencil in the lower margin by Koufax and Neiman. This print was limited to 435 total impressions (359 numbered impressions, 70 artist's proofs, and 6 printer's proofs). This is a modern classic and one of the most striking Koufax artworks ever produced. Neiman was impressed not only by Koufax's talent on the field, but by his character as well: When you paint Sandy Koufax, you’re not just painting a great pitcher. It’s very important to not lose sight of the great individuality that set him apart from the typical athlete. He stood tall, far above the baseball norm. He was like Muhammad Ali or Arthur Ashe, and distinguished himself for what he believed in. The serigraph itself measures 24" (wide) x 32" (high) and comes in a 32.5" (wide) x 42" (high) frame. The piece is in Mint condition.
This piece also comes with:
FREE $20,000.00 Certified Insurance Appraisal, &
FREE Certificate of Authenticity!
This piece can be viewed at our brand new gallery APR57 at 200 W 57th Street, New York, NY 10019. We ship anywhere around the world!
Appraisal Value: $20,000.00
Our Price: $7,995.00
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