Creating Classic Baseball Sculptures

The Cincinnati Reds celebrated their 150th anniversary as the nation’s first all-professional baseball team by dedicating a pavilion outside the ballpark on May 5, 2019. Local Cincinnati artist Tom Tsuchiya created relief figures of the members of the 1869 team that adorn a gazebo highlighting the site. It includes 12 bronze busts of ten players, the club president and secretary. He also designed the player statues around the Great American Ball Park. The figures enshrined include Asa Brainard, pitcher/outfield; Doug Allison, catcher; Charlie Gould, first base; Charlie Sweasy, second base; Fred Waterman, third base; George Wright, shortstop; Andy Leonard, left field; Harry Wright, center field/pitcher (team captain); Cal McVey, right field; William “Dick” Hurley, substitute; Aaron Champion, club president and John Joyce, secretary.

For each sculpture, Exact Metrology, Inc. (Cincinnati, OH) used the ATOS Triple Scan high resolution, optical digitizer for rapid and precise 3D measuring data to optimize the design process. Precise fringe patterns were projected onto the surface of the object and recorded by two cameras based on the stereo camera principle. As the beam paths of both the camera and the projector calibrated in advance, 3D surface points from three different ray intersections were calculated. The projection unit of the scanner used Blue Light Technology. Since the sensor works with narrow-band blue light, interfering ambient light was filtered during image acquisition, making short measuring times possible because of the powerful light source.

The data was then processed in Geomagic, their 3D software for digital models of physical objects. The data from the software was used next to create a styrofoam negative with a CNC machine, then taken to a foundry and poured in the final sculpture. The pavilion is located in the former rose garden, next to the Hall of Fame and Museum, along Joe Nuxhall Way on the first base/right field side of the Great American Ballpark. This pavilion is the first permanent recognition of the original Red Stockings.

Exact Metrology, Inc., 11575 Goldcoast Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45249, 513-831-6620, www.exactmetrology.com.