| The Rookie (Red Sox Locker Room) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Norman Rockwell |
| Year | 1957 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 104 cm × 99 cm (41 in × 39 in) |
| Location | Private collection |
The Rookie orThe Rookie (Red Sox Locker Room) is a 1957 painting by American artistNorman Rockwell, painted for the March 2, 1957, cover ofThe Saturday Evening Post magazine.[1]
The painting depicts severalBoston Red Sox baseball players in a locker room, joined by an apparent new player who is dressed in street clothes and carrying a suitcase, along with his baseball glove and baseball bat. The painting was sold in a 2014 auction for over twenty million dollars.[2]
Rockwell wanted to create aspring training-themed cover forThe Saturday Evening Post, and in August 1956 three Red Sox players (Frank Sullivan,Jackie Jensen, andSammy White) drove to his studio inStockbridge, Massachusetts, to pose for reference photographs.[3]Ted Williams andBilly Goodman are depicted in the painting but did not make the studio trip, so Rockwell used other images of them.[3][4] Rockwell selected a high school student, Sherman Safford from nearbyPittsfield, Massachusetts, to pose for reference photos of the rookie baseball player.[3] Inspiration for the rookie player may have beenMickey McDermott, who joined the Red Sox in 1948 and was featured in a photograph inLife magazine.[5] Rockwell visitedSarasota, Florida, and took photographs of the actual Red Sox spring training locker room atPayne Park.[6][5]
The painting features five members of the1956 Boston Red Sox,[6][7] who were also with the team in 1957 when the painting appeared on the cover ofThe Saturday Evening Post;
Additionally featured in the painting are the eponymous rookie, standing between Williams and Goodman, and a fictitious player standing at far left whom Rockwell called "John J. Anonymous,"[7] and was based on reference photos of Rockwell's studio assistant Louie Lamone.[8] With the death of Frank Sullivan in January 2016, none of the featured Red Sox players are still alive.
The painting was sold at auction in May 2014 byChristie's for $22,565,000, including the buyer's premium.[4] A few weeks before being auctioned, it was publicly displayed at theMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston.[7] The painting had previously been sold in 1986 for $600,000.[4]
Accession #: ST1976.9256
Sherman 'Scotty' Safford—who posed as the up-and-coming pitcher for the Red Sox—shares the story of being discovered by Norman Rockwell.
The young man who portrays the rookie in Norman Rockwell's famous painting recalls how he was discovered.
Sherman Safford's brush with fame began when Norman Rockwell visited his high school in search of a cheerful nobody to star in his 1957 painting 'The Rookie.' Safford speaks withLee Cowan about being immortalized by an American icon.
Hoping to help them improve their 1957 season, Norman Rockwell painted "The Rookie" for the Boston Red Sox.
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