Birrer Art Studios

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K ALS!
A tribute to Curt Schilling's "Bloody Sock" performances in Oct 2004

Below are photos of a life size, solid wood sculpture of Curt Schilling's right leg. Everything you see is wood; even the dirt and brick.

The blood stain is visible on the outside of the right foot. This piece depticts Schilling's leg in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS vs the Yankees, which was the first time he had resorted to this radical surgical procedure in order to be able to pitch. As a result of the publicity generated by photos of this bloodstain, Schilling wrote in silver on his right shoe the next time he pitched, against St. Louis in the World Series. He wrote "K ALS", which was baseball shorthand for: "Strikeout Amyotrophic Lateral Schlerosis".

Schilling knew that cameras would be focused on the sock and shoe and took the opportunity to raise awareness for the ALS charitable cause. This was my inspiration for doing the statue in the first place--the idea that instead of being focused on the St. Louis hitters, he took a little time to recognize a worthy cause and to help others. I thought that I could do something similar with my art and so I decided to depict this story in wood.



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Below: Various, early stages of completion:

In completely natural wood before any paint, while a solid wood Jackie Robinson looks on

Without paint, you can see the construction. The 4" x 6" beam goes all the way through to the wooden base.
The reddish wood is the old pine beam. The lighter color wood had to be laminated on for the needed thickness to be reached.

From the top. Note the beautiful 4" x 6" beam from the 1930's. They don't mill them like that anymore!
Those are real nailholes. This beam was part of a building for the last 80 years awaiting a renovation and rebirth as a piece of baseball Art!

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