DUNEDIN, Fla. — Baseball artist V. Wells stopped by the Toronto Blue Jays spring training facility this week to present his latest work of art.
Wells, the most-commissioned sports artist, captured the three Blue Jays superstars, along with their fathers, who also were big league stars in their own right.
“It’s special, me, Cavan (Biggio), and Vladdy (Guerrero, Jr.) have grown up together and in the spotlight, we have a special place for each other in our lives,” Blue Jays shortstop and St. Pete native Bo Bichette told ABC Action News. “A picture like that is really cool.”
“I try to put all the detail in there that’s important to these guys,” Wells added.
Wells is the father of three-time all-star Vernon Wells.
When a pro football career did not pan out for Wells, he turned to art.
“I always liked drawing and had the best coloring books in town and all that stuff,” he said.
His first commissioned work was the 1978 media guide for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League.
“Only a couple hundred bucks,” he said. “I said, well, this is a lot less painful than coming across the middle. Let’s see if I can do that more.”
Wells caught his big break in 1989 when Upper Deck trading cards hired him to paint their team checklists cards, which were portraits of a selected player from each team.
“I thought it was too good to be true,” he said. “All you have to do is they’ll tell you who they want to do, send you the pictures, you do the paintings, and send them back.
“My work was different then. I look at those cards now, I like some of them, but because of the technique I was using, I don’t like them that much.”
He’s become a highly-accomplished artist, doing most of his work for MLB clubs that want to honor their players for achieving milestones.
“It doesn’t mean I am better than everybody,” Wells said. “I’m willing to work around the clock more than some. It’s tough. There’s a lot of people that can do what I do.”
