Art of the Diamond

I love stuff like this:

For decades photographer George Brace documented the Chicago Cubs in pictures and earned visiting players' trust, capturing images of baseball greats huddling with young fans and hanging out with teammates.

Brace's collection is still under his family's ownership, but several black-and-white prints from the original negatives are now the property of Appleton Art Center in downtown Appleton. They'll be on display when the center's new exhibit, "Art of the Diamond: Baseball," opens April 3 as a visual timeline of baseball in the United States from the late 19th century through the present day. . .

. . . Brace captured rare on-the-field yet off-the-field moments, those in-between-play pockets of time when players could relax and let their personalities shine through. Visitors to the exhibit will see New York Yankees player Babe Ruth with his arm around the shoulder of a Chicago Cubs batboy. They'll also find a shot of New York Yankees players at the 1938 World Series in a lineup, posing with their baseball bats as though they held rifles.

This is the sort of thing I'd go see if I were able to write for a living. I love road trips, even when they seem at first glance to be putatively boring drives. Appleton is like 550 miles from me. I'd take one day to meander up to Appleton and blog from the hotel room that night. The next day I'd go see the exhibit and wander around Appleton just to say I've been there (putatively boring cities are often the most fun to explore), and blog some more that evening. Next day I'd drive back a different route. On day four I'd write about 4300 words about the trip and the exhibit. In other words, it would be fabulous.

Sure, after three or four of these kinds of jaunts my wife would file for divorce, but every artist suffers for his work, right?