F.C. Knudde : 1998 Netherlands

1998-May-19 Netherlands

Toon van Driel is a Dutch cartoonist, comics writer and comics artist, best known for his comics series F.C. Knudde, about an incompetent association football team, and De Stamgasten, which features anthropomorphic animals telling corny jokes in a bar. He is the winner of the 1988 Stripschapprijs. Van Driel was also the original writer of Eric Schreurs' comic strip Joop Klepzeiker.

Sports editorial comics

I am still amazed at how the world works, maybe it's just a matter of paying attention. I came across this article in the New York Times online "Lost Occupation, Lost Art as Sports Cartooning Dies" written by Rich Sandomir on the decline of newspapers using sports cartoonists. I grew up reading the NY Daily News and probably received most of my sport education from the Bill Gallo and Bruce Stark drawings. I was aware of the Willard Mullins covers from the New York Mets yearbooks, which I still have!

The line from the article "With the stroke of a pen, they animate the page, maybe in a way that even photographs could not," Larry Merchant former NY Post sports columnist...

A day after reading this, my wife and I were going through a box of old photos from her parents house and mixed in was a newspaper sports page from 1934. On the page was a drawing by Gus Edson of light heavyweight boxer Bob Olin, who in 1934 lost twice to Lou Brouillard. The cartoon easily captures the huge effort Olin had to make to earn the title fight.  Olin would finish his career with a record of 55-27-5 (25 KO)...

Edson would also draw the comic strip the Gumps, created by Sidney Smith in 1917 and co-creating the comic strip Dondi with Irwin Hasen...

Before the days of internet access, whenever I used to travel (mostly soccer tournaments) I would pick up local newspapers to see what comic strips they were carrying, and if they had a sports cartoonist. I would try to write to as many as possible, with little success. As time went on I found less newspapers carrying sports cartoons, and the comic strips were getting smaller. I for one still enjoy the sports cartoon and hopefully the newspaper publishers will see the beauty of sports cartoons and start including more of them in their on-line editions...

This also provides me the opportunity to share a recent purchase, a multicolored sketch of Moon Mullins by Ferd Johnson.
Created by Frank Willard in 1923 the comic strip ran until 1991. The strip depicts the lives of lowbrow characters who reside in a boarding house, the central character being Moon Mullins a would-be prizefighter strapped for cash and a penchant for gambling and the horses...

Other sports related comic strips have also been published in the newspapers including Joe Palooka, created by Ham Fisher in 1921; All In Sport by Chet Adams 1940s; Cleats by Bill Hinds 2001; Tank McNamara by Hinds and Jeff Millar 1974; Out of Bounds Don Wilder and Bill Rechin, 1986;

Although not central to the story line sports were always a big part of Peanuts, Frazz, Shoe and the Wizard of Id

Summer Anne Burton - Every Hall of Famer

2011.10 -
I first read about Summer Anne Burton's project Every Hall of Famer in the May web-issue of ESPN Magazine, and I immediately liked the project. Beginning in January 2011, Ms. Burton began drawing a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame every day in chronological order. This really is a momentous and monumental task.

I have always appreciated the sports editorial cartoonists when I was growing up, Bill Gallo and Bruce Stark. The art was great and the subject matter was usually the Yankees, Mets, boxing, horse racing, etc...A a child it was like reading the daily comics but learning about the current events in sports...

As I grew older I became more aware of artists like Willard Mullin, creator of the Brooklyn Bum, the iconic image of the Dodgers and Karl Hubenthal...Now when newspapers are cutting back on their content, most sports cartoons have vanished. Editorial cartoonists have picked up a few sports subjects, usually the worst of sports like steroid use, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Michael Vick, Tiger Woods...

I miss the sports cartoons...although there are a few sports related comic strips like In the Bleachers by Steve Moore, Tank McNamara and Cleats (which recently ended its run) by Bill Hinds, Benchies by Rick Pearson, Small Market Sports by Bill Charbonneau, Gil Thorp created in 1958 by Jack Berrill and currently drawn by Rod Whigham

When I read about Every Hall of Famer I knew I would like to obtain a sketch, and who better than Mickey Mantle. Admittedly I rooted for Roger Maris as a kid, probably because my brother rooted for Mantle. Since the USPS issued a set of stamps honoring baseball heroes Mantle, Roy Campanella, Mel Ott and Hank Greenberg, my choice for a sketch on cover had to be Mantle! What a joy I saw the drawing of Mantle, it's a hit!

I had the pleasure of meeting Mickey Mantle 1990.10.28 at a sports card show in Edison, NJ... I have an autograph book in which I do sketches of the athlete and then have them sign the page..

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Jack Matsuoka is best known for his book about Japanese relocation camp life titled Camp II, Block 211 (Japan Publications, Inc. 1974), a humorous look at life in Poston relocation camp.

Matsuoka began drawing at an early age. With no formal art education, Matsuoka would soon draw for the camp newspaper. In the 1960's Matsuoka was living in California and began drawing cartoons for the UC Bears and Berkely Gazette. By 1969 he was a freelance cartoonist, working as the Editorial cartoonist for Pacifica Tribune, as well as providing drawings for the San Francisco Examiner, San Mateo Times, San Jose Mercury. At the Times, Matsuoka would mostly draw sports cartoons...

Matsuoka has donated original drawings to the Japanese Historical Museum, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Cornell Universities.

2002 National Japanese American Historical Society.

Random sports in comic strips

Lio by Mark Tatulli - 2011.06.14

Shoe by Chris Cassatt, Gary Brookins and Susie MacNelly - 2006.03.24

Bill Gallo - Sports Cartoonist

Bill Gallo (1922-2011) passed away on May 10, 2011.

Although this is not a first day cover, I wanted to share a sketch I obtained in 1988...

Gallo was a sports editorial cartoonist for the New York Daily News, as well as being a boxing journalist.

Gallo received the National Cartoonist Society Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998, Page One Journalism Award from the New York Newspaper Guild (20-times), The Power of Printing Award, Elzie Segar Award as Outstanding Cartoonist 1975, NCS Sports Cartoon Award (10-times)..

Gallo's sports cartoons appeared daily in the New York Daily News providing a fresh look at sports not only from the New York teams, but from around the nation...

Galo created Basement Bertha who suffered for many years alongside the hapless NY Mets, Yuchie the average New York sports kid rooting for his favorite teams and General Von Steingrabber a take-off on the Yankees owner George Steinbrenner...

Gallo's art ranged from humorous to serious sketched portraits of sports celeberities. A few favorites seemed to be Ali and Casey Stengel...

My favorite memories of Gallo's cartoons were a special feature for the World Series. After each game Gallo would award a Hero and a Goat of the game..As I never expected the Yankees to lose, I took any Yankee being a goat to heart. As a kid I did not believe horns belonged on a Yankee cap...