S. Preston’s Minimalist Mascots finally get official MLB licensing nod

If you’re a long-time reader of The Buzz, you should remember sports artist S. Preston, who focuses on the small details and builds artwork around those little things that sports fans see and appreciate.

After a year of waiting for MLB licensing, Preston’s work is back with a new series of Minimalist Mascots prints, which are now available with a focus on the fast and furry-ous stars often found running around the ballpark.

The pieces were part of his portfolio back when we first visited his work in December but could not be sold because they were not licensed. Now, though, they are available to fans.

Minimalist Ballparks & Ballpark Princesses are focus of sports fan and sports artist S. Preston

They’re two distinctly different styles of art probably catering to different types of sports fans, but you should have no doubts about one thing — the works of S. Preston are the work of a sports fan. 

“I won piano competitions, art competitions and mathematics competitions, but that didn’t matter because all I wanted to do was be in sports,” he writes on his website. “But as we all know too well, the dream of being a professional athlete is not for everyone, including me.”

Working with a broadcasting team led to a lot of time in stadiums and one day an old doodle led to an idea of drawing stadiums in the simplest ways possible — but noting the details sports fans can Identify with. “Minimalist Ballparks” was born. On the other end of the spectrum are his hand-penciled “Baseball Princesses” sketches of iconic characters little girls love with a simple twist and the simple idea that “girls can be baseball fans, too.”