The late LeRoy Neiman was an American artist known for his brilliantly colored, expressionist paintings and screen prints of 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. Based in New York, Neiman was well known at all the city’s sports venues, especially Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium.

One of Neiman’s subjects over the years was baseball, and one individual above all, Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees. Neiman painted several colorful portraits of Mantle in action, especially in the mid-1960s as the Hall of Fame slugger’s career was coming to its close. His 1962 painting of Mantle is one of his most famous, and most reprinted, works. Mantle played his entire career (1951-1968) with the Yankees as a center fielder and first baseman. Mantle was one of the best players and sluggers of his era and is regarded by many as the greatest switch hitter in baseball history. Mantle won the Triple Crown in 1956, when he led the majors in batting average (.353), home runs (52), and runs batted in (RBI) (130). He was an All-Star for 16 seasons and the American League MVP three times. Mantle appeared in 12 World Series including seven championships. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974 and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999.

Offered is a rare preliminary study of Mantle by Neiman, in chalk pastels on brown paper. The 12 x 20-inch sketch captures Mantle from behind, with a yellow baseball bat in motion swinging from his pink hands, and a pink neck in blue, blue cap, white jersey and pant, with green and accents. At the bottom is the white outline of on-deck circle. The sketch is inscribed “Mantle in the on-deck circle” in white in the lower left corner. It is signed and inscribed “LeRoy Neiman ’63 Yankee Stadium” in white in the lower right corner. The sketch is mounted in a dark brown paper matte with light brown and white borders, within a 21 x 29-inch brown metal and glass frame. This comes with a LOA from Steve Grad of Beckett Authentication (A25466).

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