Reprints of these and other Post covers are available at curtispublishing.com.

Stan the Man – John Falter – 5/1/54

Stan the Man
John Falter
May 1, 1954

Not only did these St. Louis kids have to miss school (awww!), they had to sit and pose with Stan the Man Musial. What a rough life. The lucky youngsters wound up with forty Musial autographs. “Wow!” one said in awe. “Will we clean up selling these at school!” We’re sure at least one of them has wished he’d kept it.

Yogi Berra – Earl Mayan – 4/20/57

Yogi Berra
Earl Mayan
April 20, 1957

Who doesn’t love Yogi Berra? Long before he became famous for maiming the English language, Berra was catcher for the New York Yankees. Artist Earl Mayan got him to pose in Yankee Stadium for this cover. Love the fan faces! The editors informed us they were friends of the artist and “were real nice-looking people till he asked them to look like baseball fans.”

Family Baseball – John Falter – 9/2/50

Family Baseball
John Falter
September 2, 1950

While we admire the pros, there’s nothing like a family baseball game. It’s 1950 and Uncle Baldy can’t decide whether to pitch or throw to Aunt Sally in the yellow dress on second base and catch the guy out. We have to say Aunt Martha’s batter’s stance is interesting. The editors speculated that the umpire was selected “because he has a natural chest protector”. Well, a natural belly protector, anyway.

Sliding into Home Place – Fischer – 4/16/10

Sliding into Home Place
Anton Otto Fischer
April 16, 1910

It’s no surprise that they played baseball in 1910, as we see in this cover. What surprised us was the artist – none other than Anton Otto Fischer. Mostly famous for his masted ships rolling over foaming waves, Fischer also was great at painting people. This slice-of-landlubber-life captures the action perfectly. Interesting catcher’s mitt!

Oregon Baseball – Clymer – 4/21/51

Oregon Baseball
John Clymer
April 21, 1951

Artist John Clymer was known for his beautiful landscapes. Sure, he manages here to paint Oregon in all its spring glory, pink blooms, Mount Hood and all. But the eye is drawn here to the fine pitching form of Miss Pigtails and the concentration of the batter. The trees may be budding and the grass greening, but kids’ thoughts turn to baseball. It must be spring!

Classic Covers: Baseball The Saturday Evening Post

“On the back it is labeled ‘A Goboto Night.’ Do you have any information about this painting?”

Dear reader:

Well, the words “Goboto Night” meant nothing to us when we first read your question. But for form’s sake, we referred to the archives, where we found a handwritten index card in flowing script by a long-forgotten clerk: “ ‘A Goboto Night,’ by Jack London” (no less) and the date: September 30, 1911. We retrieved the old issue, and sure enough, the story (which you can read below) was illustrated by Anton Otto Fischer.

The original illustration by Anton Otto Fischer as it appeared in the Post.

In the story about the island Goboto, we see a small black & white illustration. Four men are sitting around a table by the sea. The caption reads, “Life at Goboto is Heated, Unhealthy and Lurid.”

Then the painting’s owner, Susan Geer-Smith, e-mailed us a photo to confirm, and the illustration came to life before our eyes! Flesh tones, blue sea, Anton Otto Fischer’s signature multimasted ship in the background. It’s a beauty.

Post reader Susan Geer-Smith sent in a photo of Fischer's original painting. Notice the ship on the far-right.

So how did Susan end up with a painting that illustrated a 1911 Saturday Evening Post story? About 12 years ago, her mother purchased a realty company and remembered the painting being there for at least 20 years. Susan herself started working there about three years ago. “I found it in a closet and fell in love with it,  Susan remembers. “When I asked my mother about it, she told me to take it …” The painting had simply been there from as long ago as anyone could remember. How it got from the artist to The Saturday Evening Post to the offices of a realty company that began in 1916 remains a mystery.

If you have a painting that you suspect is affiliated with a Saturday Evening Post story, we’d love to hear from you. It’s a delight seeing an original black and white illustration as the artwork it was meant to be. Fischer alone did hundreds of illustrations for the Post.

Thank you, Susan, for letting us ogle your painting. Oh, and if you know anything about a painting by Fischer that shows “a man pointing a gun at eight other angry men in a boat,” let us know. Another reader is looking for that one. E-mail: d.denny@saturdayeveningpost.com.

P.S.: Goboto is a fictional island where traders come off their schooners and “assume shoes, white duck trousers and various other appearances of civilization.” At this questionably progressive place “mail is received, bills are paid, and newspapers, rarely more than five weeks old, are accessible.” This is “A Goboto Night” by Jack London, published in The Saturday Evening Post on September 30, 1911.

The Case of the Missing Painting The Saturday Evening Post

U.S. Navy Commander Lincoln Lothrop had once written to the artist: “My two lads, one of whom is now a twenty-two-year-old lieutenant in the Navy … used to cut out your pictures and pin them on the walls of their rooms. … You are responsible for recruiting many a seagoing lad.” They must have been brave lads, for Fischer’s paintings not only depicted the majestic beauty of the oceans, but the terrors they held as well.

Fischer was invited to lunch one day by none other than Vice Admiral Russell Waesche, Commandant of the Coast Guard for the purpose of recruiting. The January 9, 1943, Post describes it thus: “Did the admiral know that he was an anti-New Dealer? The admiral didn’t know—or care. But did the admiral know that he was born in Germany? Oh, yes, the admiral knew that, all right; his record had been checked.

“That record included, among other things, the fact that young Fischer had come to America as a deck hand on a German vessel, that he sacrificed two months’ pay to obtain his freedom, and then sailed on American ships for three years.”

By late that same afternoon, Fischer was sworn in as a lieutenant commander in the Coast Guard. “His duties? Putting on canvas some of the heroic deeds of our Merchant Mariners and Coast Guardsmen—the least-publicized men, perhaps, in all of our armed forces.”

This called for a wartime sacrifice at The Saturday Evening Post. Concluded the 1943 story, “and that is why Fischer’s glorious living seascapes will be out of the Post for the duration.”

Also known for illustrating books such as Moby Dick, Treasure Island, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Anton Otto Fischer died far from his beloved coastlines in the Catskill Mountains of Woodstock, New York, in 1962 at the age of 70.

Anton Otto Fischer "Chinese Junk" 1931

Anton Otto Fischer "Storm at Sea" 1931

Anton Otto Fischer "Red Sky at Morning" 1932

Anton Otto Fischer "Yacht and Steamship" 1932

Anton Otto Fischer "Wave Breaks over Steamer" 1936

Anton Otto Fischer "Spanish Galleon" 1936

Anton Otto Fischer "Trim the Sails!" 1933

Anton Otto Fischer "Yachts at Sea" 1933

Anton Otto Fischer "Ice Boating" 1929

Classic Covers: Anton Otto Fischer The Saturday Evening Post