Body-Painted Giancarlo Stanton To Be Featured On Sports Illustrated Cover
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The focus of the sports world is shifting to baseball as Spring Training is finally underway.
One of Major League Baseball's brightest stars, the Miami Marlins' Giancarlo Stanton, is going to be noticed across the country for something other than his spectacular ability to hit monster home runs on a regular basis.
Stanton is going to be featured on the cover of this week's issue of Sports Illustrated.
That makes sense considering Spring Training is just getting started and Stanton is widely considered one of, if not the, best young hitters in baseball.
There is a catch, though.
Stanton's SI cover features the 25-year-old wearing nothing but body-paint.
CLICK HERE to watch Jim Berry's report
Artist Joanne Gair was tasked with applying a home Marlins uniform on Stanton's bare skin, a practice normally reserved for swimsuit models, not professional athletes.
The process took 15 hours from start to finish but now Stanton can hold the distinction of being not only the first male athlete to be body-painted, but also the first athlete to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated in body-paint.
"When the idea of body-painting an athlete came up, Stanton jumped onboard quickly and that enthusiasm showed throughout the day-long process," Sports Illustrated said in a statement released to the media.
Along with the cover photo, Stanton is the subject of SI's feature story, written by Ben Reiter.
There is a video highlighting the entire process of what it took to body-paint Stanton, which you can watch below or at SI's website by clicking here.
(Follow David on Twitter: @DavidDwork)