Colorado Rockies rookie Aaron Schunk dazzles on the field as his dad sketches stadiums
While Colorado Rockies rookie infielder Aaron Schunk works his artistry at shortstop, his father Eric Schunk quietly sits in the stands and creates his own masterpieces.
"It's part of who he is -- his drawings -- and it's pretty amazing," Aaron said.
"It's the best sport in the world and the time you have to breathe in and breathe out makes it the perfect time for sketching," Eric proclaimed.
For years now, Aaron has dazzled on the field while his dad has sketched the ballparks where his son has played.
"High school through college, I did several of the ones like when Aaron played at Georgia, we went around some of the SEC ballparks and had a chance to do some of those," recalled Eric. "Then I think I did everyone except for Albuquerque in the minors."
An architect by trade, Eric knows you need a plan when you pick up the pen.
"I like to start by doing the edging, like the base of the seating and the edge of the dugout," he said. "Then I'll rough in the outfield lines and that gives me a basis for the whole thing so I know the scale is correct. The thing I love about this park is the imbalance it has. I love there is a large seating of stands in right field and then the Rox Pile and scoreboard are so magnificent as backdrop pieces and the batter's eye is one of the best I've seen in baseball."
While Aaron's baseball ability is major-league caliber, his artistic talent is another story.
"I have no artistic bones in my body," he proclaimed. "I'm not very good at the whole vision he sees. For a lot of guys, they haven't seen his drawings before so when it got posted and blew up, they were like 'man, those are good!' Then they asked me if I could do it and I was like no shot."
But his dad sees similarities between their talents.
"People ask me how I've done this," Eric said. "I've done it every day of my life since I was 4 years old and Aaron has played baseball every day of his life since he was 4 years old. This is what he's trained for and where he is at home and this is my home."
Dad drew a lot of attention with his sketch of Aaron's debut against the Chicago White Sox.
"The Chicago one is pretty special because of the meaning behind it," Aaron said.
But nothing can compare to drawing the ballpark that Aaron will hopefully call home for years to come.
"I'm down here with my wife and we're watching our son see his dream come true," an emotional Eric said. "It's almost completely indescribable so I'm hoping I have a sketch that will commemorate this for myself later on and maybe for Aaron. My heart will be into this sketch more than any other place. For me to draw the stadium that he's playing his first home game in, I can't tell you what this means to me, it's pretty special."
