Sculptor Creates Baseball Immortals’ Plaques

Sculptor Tom Tsuchiya working on Hall of Famer Lee Smith's plaque. Smith was part of the Class of 2019. (Courtesy of Tom Tsuchiya)

Cincinnati-based sculptor Tom Tsuchiya is responsible for what visitors at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum see in the plaque gallery.

If you’ve visited baseball’s most famous depository at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, or, for that matter, if you only have seen photographs of the individual Hall of Famers’ bronze plaques in the gallery, perhaps wondering how they came to be has crossed your mind.

The process, from start to finish, is thorough and rewarding, personally, for Tsuchiya. Armed with clay, carefully selected photographs of the individual whose likeness is to be created by Tsuchiya at his Essex Studios, the imagination and gift of being able to recreate what he visions is amazing. Being a baseball fan growing up in Cincinnati, without warning, Tsuchiya offers an oral history of his beloved hometown Reds—before and after the rise of the Big Red Machine seasons of the mid-1970’s.

So, before Matthews’ bronze foundry produces the final product ticketed for Cooperstown, the process begins in the Hall of Fame. Tsuchiya tells of working closely with Mary Quinn, the director of exhibits at the Hall of Fame, and Jon Shestakofsky, vice president of communications and content. Discussions between them include researching images, while looking for the best that represents them. Between four or five images of the inductees in uniform, wearing caps, are shared. Ultimately, the image is approved that Tsuchiya will use to create what the public will see in bronze.

Matthews International Corporation, since 1983, is the exclusive provider of the plaques for the Hall of Fame. After being sculpted, the plaques are then transferred to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Matthews’ headquarters is where the finished works of Tsuchiya are taken. How Tsuchiya’s connection with Matthews and the National Baseball Hall of Fame came to be, is a case of being in the right place, at the right time.

“It was some time back in 2012 or 2013, there just happen to be a representative from Matthews visiting Cincinnati, and they were planning on attending a Kenny Chesney concert. He saw in the newspaper a life-size sculpture I did of Joe Morgan at Great American Ball Park,” Tsuchiya told The Epoch Times earlier this week. “That representative from Matthews was Josh Rooney (of the Pittsburgh Steelers ownership family). Josh said we should meet, and possibly work together.”

Sculptor Tom Tsuchiya begins working on a plaque for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. (Courtesy of Tom Tsuchiya)

Prior to Tsuchiya being commissioned to sculpt the plaques for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, it was Mindy Ellis of the Pittsburgh area who was charged for 20 years of turning out the game’s most honored award. The plaques measure 15 1/2 by 10 3/4. Once connected with Rooney after their initial introduction in Cincinnati, Tsuchiya began working with Matthews. Also, at this time there was increased talk that Ellis was planning to retire from sculpting, according to Tsuchiya.

“Rooney was considering having me succeed Mary. This was in 2015,” explains Tsuchiya, whose skills are also responsible for statues of other great Reds’ players Pete Rose and Tony Perez that stand outside Great American Ball Park.

With an image in front of him, Tsuchiya begins his work. He has a template. With the arch at the top of the plate, Tsuchiya puts his clay in the center of it.

“Anywhere between 18 to 50 hours is how long it has taken me to complete a plaque,” said Tsuchiya. “There have been some, when I’m finished I don’t like them. Then, I start over again.”

Tsuchiya sums up the process of creating the Hall of Fame plaques with one word—perfect.

From this year’s Class of Joe Mauer, Jim Leyland, Todd Helton, and Adrian Beltre, Tsuchiya has had a do-over. After completing the Mauer plaque, Tsuchiya wanted to show off more of the former MVP catcher’s sideburns.

As for who has been the most challenging Hall of Famer to capture in clay, Tsuchiya pegs Mariano Rivera, who to this date is the only player ever elected to the Cooperstown unanimously by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He suggests that the lens used in shooting the Rivera images wasn’t right. The distortion in the images is what Tsuchiya tells presents the challenges.

Finished plaque of Hall of Famer Derek Jeter (Class of 2020). (Courtesy of Tom Tsuchiya)

In two weeks, during Hall of Fame Weekend (July 19-22), Tsuchiya plans on attending induction ceremonies in Cooperstown. This is a trip he schedules for each summer.

“Monday morning is special,” Tsuchiya explained. “I meet with the inductees and their families. The inductees receive a plaque half-scale to the one that is hung in the gallery.”

As an “adopted native” of the Queen City, Tsuchiya attended Archbishop Moeller High School. Although Tsuchiya admits to not having played baseball (he ran track and cross-country), his alma mater in suburban Cincinnati has produced its share of MLB alumni including two Hall of Famers. Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Larkin are enshrined in Cooperstown, and current Reds’ skipper David Bell honed their game while at Moeller.

Baseball brings happy memories for Tsuchiya with his father who immigrated from Japan to Cincinnati. Now, Tsuchiya is responsible for creating another round of baseball bliss, each summer, in Upstate New York with the hall of famers and their families. In the excitement in Tsuchiya’s voice when discussing his work, it’s clear he is as anxious for the Hall’s newest members to first see their plaques, and he is in creating them.