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Minnesota Twins pitcher Zach Day also known as a talented artist
Pitcher Day also known as a talented artist
BY PHIL MILLER
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 02/23/2008 01:39:53 AM CST
FORT MYERS, Fla. "It's a weird skill," Zach Day suggested, one that a lot of people don't even realize they have.
"It either comes pretty naturally, like it did for me, and you develop it," Day said as he sat at his locker, "or you just can't do it, even with classes and training."
That's a pretty good summary of Day's talent for making baseballs veer and sink and dive, an ability he hopes leads him back to the major leagues with the Twins this summer. But the lanky right-hander wasn't talking about pitching.
Day is the Degas of the diamond, an artistic savant (relative to ballplayers, at least), and he was describing his aptitude with a charcoal pencil, with watercolors, with an easel and some oils. The 29-year-old sinkerballer has made 60 big-league starts, and although he would like to describe more of them as works of art (his career record is 21-27), his other pastime has produced several.
Day has done abstract paintings and some watercolor still-lifes. But some of his favorite works, he said, are the pencil drawings he has meticulously crafted in major league clubhouses and road-trip hotel rooms.
A typical portrait, with amazing attention to detail, might take him 30 hours over the course of a couple of weeks to produce. He has created drawings, some action shots and some facial close-ups, of several teammates during his career, which has taken him to the Expos, Nationals and Rockies. One particularly expressive portrait of Montreal teammate Vladimir Guerrero sold for $1,500, which Day donated to an inner-city high school in his hometown of Cincinnati.
"My baseball coach in high school was an art teacher, and he got me into it," Day said. "If I had gone to college, that's probably what I would have (studied). And my first year or two, I'd just bring a sketch pad with me on the road."
Pretty soon, he was taking requests and producing suitable-for-framing works. A groundskeeper once asked him to do an elaborate drawing of his family. A trainer had him draw his dog. Expos teammates Guerrero and Jose Vidro, among others, made requests, and the Pirates commissioned artwork of Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla from their Pittsburgh days.
ESPN the Magazine printed his rendition of Frank Robinson, in the form of a baseball card from his early days as a Red, and one of Day himself.
"A self-portrait, that's the last thing I wanted to do," he said, though he finally agreed. "It's been a great hobby, and it's something you can do for a lifetime."
Day can't pitch forever, and he would like to resume his career right away. He seemed about to take off in baseball after going 9-8 in 23 starts for the Expos in 2003. But over the past three seasons, Day has fractured the middle finger on his pitching hand, broken his wrist and busted his right thumb. And amid all the broken bones, and a release by the Rockies, he tore the rotator cuff in his pitching shoulder in 2006 and needed a follow-up procedure last summer.
"It's been a rough couple of years," Day said. "But the arm feels good. This offseason, it really started to liven up. The ball started coming out of my hand better."
Twins scouts checked him out and were convinced. The Twins offered a minor league contract in January, and Day, mindful of the Twins' reputation for developing pitching, accepted.
"It's a low-risk, high-reward situation," general manager Bill Smith said. "If he's recovered and can return to being the guy he was before, then we'll have a good pitcher."
A decent artist, too, though Day said he hasn't sketched much lately. He has another priority at the moment, and his pitching coach has noticed.
"Sometimes when you get veterans who have been in the big leagues as much as him, you tend to just flow through spring training. But he's getting after it," Rick Anderson said after watching Day prepare himself. "He's working like a young kid, trying to get back. You'd never know that he has five or six years in the big leagues."
Earning at least one more year in the majors would make Day happy, just like laboring over a drawing board does.
"For me, giving my drawings away is the best part," Day said. "I get as much enjoyment from seeing people's reactions to my drawings as I do working on them."
Phil Miller can be reached at pmiller@pioneerpress.com.
Minnesota Twins pitcher Zach Day also known as a talented artist
Pitcher Day also known as a talented artist
BY PHIL MILLER
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 02/23/2008 01:39:53 AM CST
FORT MYERS, Fla. "It's a weird skill," Zach Day suggested, one that a lot of people don't even realize they have.
"It either comes pretty naturally, like it did for me, and you develop it," Day said as he sat at his locker, "or you just can't do it, even with classes and training."
That's a pretty good summary of Day's talent for making baseballs veer and sink and dive, an ability he hopes leads him back to the major leagues with the Twins this summer. But the lanky right-hander wasn't talking about pitching.
Day is the Degas of the diamond, an artistic savant (relative to ballplayers, at least), and he was describing his aptitude with a charcoal pencil, with watercolors, with an easel and some oils. The 29-year-old sinkerballer has made 60 big-league starts, and although he would like to describe more of them as works of art (his career record is 21-27), his other pastime has produced several.
Day has done abstract paintings and some watercolor still-lifes. But some of his favorite works, he said, are the pencil drawings he has meticulously crafted in major league clubhouses and road-trip hotel rooms.
A typical portrait, with amazing attention to detail, might take him 30 hours over the course of a couple of weeks to produce. He has created drawings, some action shots and some facial close-ups, of several teammates during his career, which has taken him to the Expos, Nationals and Rockies. One particularly expressive portrait of Montreal teammate Vladimir Guerrero sold for $1,500, which Day donated to an inner-city high school in his hometown of Cincinnati.
"My baseball coach in high school was an art teacher, and he got me into it," Day said. "If I had gone to college, that's probably what I would have (studied). And my first year or two, I'd just bring a sketch pad with me on the road."
Pretty soon, he was taking requests and producing suitable-for-framing works. A groundskeeper once asked him to do an elaborate drawing of his family. A trainer had him draw his dog. Expos teammates Guerrero and Jose Vidro, among others, made requests, and the Pirates commissioned artwork of Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla from their Pittsburgh days.
ESPN the Magazine printed his rendition of Frank Robinson, in the form of a baseball card from his early days as a Red, and one of Day himself.
"A self-portrait, that's the last thing I wanted to do," he said, though he finally agreed. "It's been a great hobby, and it's something you can do for a lifetime."
Day can't pitch forever, and he would like to resume his career right away. He seemed about to take off in baseball after going 9-8 in 23 starts for the Expos in 2003. But over the past three seasons, Day has fractured the middle finger on his pitching hand, broken his wrist and busted his right thumb. And amid all the broken bones, and a release by the Rockies, he tore the rotator cuff in his pitching shoulder in 2006 and needed a follow-up procedure last summer.
"It's been a rough couple of years," Day said. "But the arm feels good. This offseason, it really started to liven up. The ball started coming out of my hand better."
Twins scouts checked him out and were convinced. The Twins offered a minor league contract in January, and Day, mindful of the Twins' reputation for developing pitching, accepted.
"It's a low-risk, high-reward situation," general manager Bill Smith said. "If he's recovered and can return to being the guy he was before, then we'll have a good pitcher."
A decent artist, too, though Day said he hasn't sketched much lately. He has another priority at the moment, and his pitching coach has noticed.
"Sometimes when you get veterans who have been in the big leagues as much as him, you tend to just flow through spring training. But he's getting after it," Rick Anderson said after watching Day prepare himself. "He's working like a young kid, trying to get back. You'd never know that he has five or six years in the big leagues."
Earning at least one more year in the majors would make Day happy, just like laboring over a drawing board does.
"For me, giving my drawings away is the best part," Day said. "I get as much enjoyment from seeing people's reactions to my drawings as I do working on them."
Phil Miller can be reached at pmiller@pioneerpress.com.
