Client: New York Yankees

Overview

In October of 2008, Sports & The Arts were retained to curate the premium areas in the new Yankee Stadium by creating a fine art and photographic collection. “The Glory of the Yankees Photo Collection,” in production for over a year, entailed researching, selecting, restoring, printing, framing, and overseeing the installation of over 1,300 historical photographs. Our team collaborated with the New York Daily News, MLB, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Getty Images for seven months, researching and choosing the ideal images to illustrate this storied franchise’s history.

Goals

Over 70,000 images were culled from sources including glass and film negatives, photographs and newsprint in our successful effort to procure the most poignant, befitting and interesting images for the Collection. It is currently the largest collection of Yankee images for public viewing. While producing this collection, several challenges arose. The greatest concern was image quality, as images were being enlarged to sizes up to 82" x 102" (larger for wall graphic treatments). Due to varying image sources and quality, many images required a great deal of restoration, particularly those not currently in digital format. We collaborated with our sources and vendors to create guidelines for scanning dimensions and image resolutions, evaluated each image in the collection, and applied rudimentary retouching to guarantee tones, sharpness and quality, ensuring consistency throughout all 1,300 images.

Process

Our staff researched New York history to create thematic opportunities within the Collection. We identified key moments, events and players, and created small vignettes throughout the facility. One such theme was an installation entitled the “Original Ten”. During our research, it was learned that the Yankees were the first team to consistently wear numbers on the back of their uniforms to identify players. We procured images of these “Original Ten” players and created a series of ten portrait style images within the suite corridor, with plaques identifying each player as well as a plaque providing information on the installation as a whole. At our suggestion, stained glass from the original Yankee Stadium was salvaged, restored, framed and added to the Collection. Working with the National Baseball Hall of Fame, a photograph from the 1923 opening day of the original Yankee Stadium was reproduced and enlarged to 35' by 15' and printed on a vinyl substrate. Vintage memorabilia from the original Yankee Stadium was restored, reframed and installed on the suite level by the entrance to the administrative offices. This installation includes over 50 pieces of photography in the Delta Club.

Additional Information

The Legends Club houses images of all Yankees with retired numbers. All were printed on canvas, and framed in rich brown molding. Incorporating a mix of sepia, black and white, and Yankee blue duotones provides a nice variety of image styles. . The imagery on the suite corridor at Yankee Stadium was curated into themed installations. Images and framing styles in NYY Steak were chosen to complement the existing decor and wall finishes. Exceptional clarity and sharpness was achieved on an 80-year old image through extensive high-end retouching and enhancement.