“Greatest Baseball Picture EVER” Painted by Michigan Artist – Just Sold at Auction

A painting from a Michigan artist, called the "greatest baseball picture ever painted", when it was done in 1915, has been sold in a huge online baseball memorabilia auction. According to MLive.com, the painting, titled "Yer Out",  was painted by Plainwell, MI native Fletcher Ransom in 1915, and features Hall of Famers Christy Mathewson and Honus Wagner. The painting was commissioned for a 1915 calendar by the Gerlach-Barklow Company. It sold online to an anonymous buyer for $48,000.

Fletcher Ransom was born in 1870 and died in 1943. In 1915, he gave the original painting to one of the owners of the Joliet, Illinois based Gerlach-Barklow Company, who had it hanging in his office for decades. The executive, who belonged to the Elks, then gave it to the Joliet Elks Lodge #296, where it hung in their foyer for 40 years. They sold the painting - something they never thought they'd have to do - to pay for improvements.

How many times have you been in one of those old clubs and marveled at the old paintings and photos of bird-dogs, fly-fishing and sports, and wondered where they came from? Cool story.

Click here to read the story from MLive.com - and see the painting.

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