About the artist:

During an 11-year period beginning in 1984, Ron Lewis produced some of the most enduring sports-art collectibles in the hobby. His oil paintings of baseball, basketball, football and hockey heroes were reproduced on lithographs, postcards, trading cards, collector plates, baseballs, posters and other items that are still widely sought by collectors. He attended autograph shows on both coasts, signing his work along with Mickey Mantle, Warren Spahn, Ted Williams and dozens of other sports immortals. “It was the golden era of collectibles,” the 56-year-old artist said of the period. “There was so much work, I didn’t have time to do anything else.” He hasn’t produced a widely distributed set since the mid-1990s, when it became tougher to finance the card shows where he sold most of his work.