Outstanding pair of original illustrations of Hall of Famer "The Ole Perfesser," Casey Stengel, as drawn by renowned caricaturist Bruce Stark. Stark, who passed away in 2012, was well-known for his art, creating covers for Time, Forbes, and TV Guide, contributing art to many other popular publications, including Mad magazine. His work is represented in the permanent collections of both the Baseball and Basketball Halls of Fame. Bruce Stark was the father of noted sports artist Ron Stark.

Matted and framed to a finished size of 24 1/2" x 18", the piece contains two different illustrations of Stengel. The first is a black and white illustration created for Stark's regular New York Daily News cartoon, featuring Stengel singing "Yankee Doodle Dandy" with a quill in his cap marked with the number 10, signifying the potential of a tenth World Series victory. The illustration ran in the Daily News on Monday, September 26 of 1960, just after the Yankees won the pennant (see photo in this listing). Of course the Yankees did not win Stengel a tenth World Series, losing in Game 7 on Bill Mazeroski's famous home run. The illustration is clean and bold, with some handwritten comments in light blue pencil reading, "(if Yanks win pennant) Well Done Casey! For Monday - Or Tues. By Stark."

The second illustration is much more a caricature, exaggerating Stengel's already-exaggerated features. Colored with what appears to be marker and possible watercolor, Stengel's name is written in stylized writing below the image, and Stark's signature is above the grass to Casey's left. Another clean illustration with no apparent wear. Both pieces appear in wonderful condition, though the professional frame job prevents us from examining the edges or back; they hardly matter. Two beautiful illustrations of a Hall of Fame manager, as created by one of the great caricature artists.