By our count, Dick Perez painted Jeff Bagwell four times in the 1990s for his enormously popular Donruss Diamond Kings series. But those were bust portraits. Never before has Perez given him the full-blown royal treatment seen here—a 30 x 20 inch scene of Bagwell in his slugging glory. Postseason flag bunting behind him, the Killer B collects one of his 7 hits in the 2004 NLCS (likely the double from either Game 4 or 6). Perez's low-angle perspective gives Bagwell the powerful, towering presence he deserves. And, in a nice additional touch, Dick has included Cardinals catcher Mike Matheny (recent author of The Matheny Manifesto) whose eyes steadfastly watch the ball sail off to the outfield. A bright, beautiful range of colors is accented by the black of Bagwell's helmet, gloves, bat, shin guard, spikes and, yes, grease streak under his eye.

Please Note: Dick Perez enjoyed the distinct honor of serving for over two decades as the Official Artist of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Perez's dazzling portraits of every Cooperstown inductee, arranged in year order, are the subject of his 2011 luxury book The Immortals. Dick is currently hard at work on an updated edition—to be released next spring—that will include the HOF Classes of 2011 through 2017. We are excited to announce that this auction's trio of oversized action scenes featuring Raines, Bagwell and Rodriguez represent the only sneak preview of Perez's brand-new pieces prior to publication.

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