Q&A with Graig Kreindler
Goat Jerseys sits down with one of my favorite artists around, the super talented, Graig Kreindler. In my book Graig is the LeBron James of painting baseball players, so don’t @ me! Let’s get to know him…
1. Where did you grow up? I grew up in Rockland County, NY, a suburb right outside of Manhattan. Absolutely loved being far away enough from Manhattan, but still close that I could get there without any problem whatsoever.
2. Were you a big sports fan growing up? If so, what was the first athlete and team you fell in love with? I was definitely big into baseball when I was growing up, following the Yankees of the 1980s, but also learning about the teams my father rooted for in the 1950s and ’60s. My brother, who is three and half years older than I am, had similar interests, and since I wanted to be like him (as most younger brothers do), I fell in love with Rickey Henderson and Don Mattingly. I also came to really love Mickey Mantle because of my father.
3. What was life like as a teenager, what did Graig Kreindler dream of becoming? Life as a teenager was quiet for the most part. I was very lucky in that my parents really wanted both my brother and I to experience culture, so with the city nearby, we spent a lot of time at concerts, Broadway shows, and museums. Because I loved to draw, I always figured I would end up being a professional artist of some sort, even if I wasn’t sure what that meant exactly. And that was only after I realized I couldn’t be a shark or an Native American chieftain.
4. How does it feel to see your original art on a Topps baseball card? I mean how cool is that! Topps is such a huge part of our childhood and baseball overall. How did working with them come about? Seeing my work on a Topps baseball card is pretty surreal. The thing that planted the seed for this whole baseball art thing (I think) was me seeing what was left of my father’s collection from when he was a kid. Like most people his age, his mother threw out the majority of what he’d accumulated as a kid, but there were some cards that were able to escape unscathed. And those cards were all from the late 1940s and early 1950s – the majority of which were illustrated, not made with photography. So as a young kid, seeing that made me realize that drawing baseball players was something to do. And here I am 30 years later, painting ballplayers for the same company that inspired me. Truly amazing.
5. All-time favorite uniform in sports? It’s hard to pick an all-time favorite uniform in sports, let alone just baseball. I mean, growing up as a Yankee fan, straying from the ‘NY’ and pinstripes is pretty hard, but to me, the St. Louis Cardinal togs of the 1940s might take the cake. The font, trim, piping, graphics – everything just WORKS. Beyond aesthetically pleasing.
6. One ballpark to watch a game from the past, where would it be? One ballpark to watch a ballgame in…man…another tough call. I always had a fascination with the 1936 Yankees and Giants, mainly because my grandfather (on my dad’s side) was a big fan of the latter, and I always imagined him taking a big interest in that particular World Series (the year after as well) because of the crosstown rivalry. He was in his early 30s at the time, so this was before my father was born and he was still kind of just starting out in his life – I can just imagine being at those World Series games with him, at either Yankee Stadium or the Polo Grounds, for whatever reason. He passed when I was young, so we never really got to talk baseball, but I’d like to think he’s keeping an eye on me somehow.
7. What era of baseball do you think produced the best uniforms? If we’re talking about the best era for jerseys, I usually go to the period around the Great Depression. I feel like you had a lot of classic uniform designs either already in place (Cardinals and Philadelphia Athletics) or making their debut towards the end of the 1930s (Dodgers, Red Sox). There were also some minor tweaks made to other jerseys in those years that have since mostly remained – the interlocking ‘NY’ of the Yankees being a prime example. There were only a small number of clubs that weren’t terribly unique – Washington immediately comes to mind. But then again, considering their preponderance of cellar dwelling years, it’s kind of poetic that their jerseys were the least interesting.
8. One person in the world living or deceased that you could have 15 minutes to sit down with and pick their brain, who would it be? It’s hard to pick just one person to chat with in an open forum for 15 minutes. I could easily pick an artist, a family member, a ballplayer, or somebody completely random. I think I might side with Red Barber, mainly to just hear him wax poetic about all of the wonderful baseball he got to cover from the 1930s on – the players, managers and magnates he came to know; the stadiums and ballparks he got to go to; the history he got to be a part of. And heck, that can apply to baseball or just America in general.
9. Favorite food, favorite city, and all-time favorite sports movie? If I’m thinking of my favorite food, I’m hearkening back to my Jewish roots and going with a heaping bowl of matzoh ball soup. The best bowl of said soup (in my opinion) can be had either at Katz’s Delicatessen or the 2nd Ave Deli, both of which are in New York City – my favorite of all-time. And if I’m going with a favorite all-time sports movie, I’m most likely picking The Sandlot – it manages to be timeless while still evoking a particular era.
10. In life they say when you hear good advice, you should always do two things: Take it in and pass it on. What would you pass on to a younger colleague? If there’s any advice I could pass onto a younger artist, it would simply be to be relentless. That kind of thinking can apply to anything really, but with art, I feel like it’s beyond important to work hard. Sure, you can be born with a talent or predilection towards something, which in my case was drawing, but it was only through a ton of work that put me where I am now (wherever that is), and it’s something I’ll continue doing for the rest of my days to grow. In that sense, talent is merely a spark and it’s up to the individual to fan it into a flame.
Thanks to Graig, this was a treat! If you haven’t yet, check his work with Topps, and also his amazing paintings he did of Negro League players. One of the best follows on Twitter: @graigkreindler