Accountant finds patriotic art hidden in old baseballs
Sioux Falls entrepreneur Nathan Rueckert turns dusty old baseballs into works of art.
The cowhide from buckets of balls are cut into strips and made into flags, hearts, crosses, cufflinks and other items that he sells primarily online through his business, The Baseball Seams Co.
It's a business Rueckert started in 2001 while he was still in college at Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo., where he majored in accounting and was a pitcher on the baseball team.
He started producing his reclaimed baseball art after Sept. 11, 2001. The red stitching on a baseball's white leather made perfect stripes for a flag, his first design, which resonated with people who love baseball and are patriotic.
"The people that are really big baseball fans know it's more than just a game," he said.
Rueckert started playing with baseballs when he was 4 years old and joined a T-ball league. Like other kids, he thought about making it big, maybe playing in the majors.
But baseball fame has come from a different direction.
"I dreamt about being in the Baseball Hall of Fame not exactly how I ended up being there," he said. The museum's store carried his art for a couple of years, as did the airline-based SkyMall magazine. He also sells his products on the online shopping site Etsy.
Some of his creations have ended up in prominent hands.
President George W. Bush was given Rueckert's original baseball flag art, called "America's Game," as a gift from staff. Minnesota Twins legend Harmon Killebrew had one and sent Rueckert a personal note, as did Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball.
Rueckert, who grew up a Cardinals fan in St. Louis, moved with his wife, Micaela, to Sioux Falls four years ago to be closer to her family. He works as an accountant for Wells Fargo, and the couple has a 2-year-old daughter, Nyla.
Baseball art feeds his creative side.
"I'm a numbers cruncher by day. But at night I have this creative outlet keeping me connected to the game," he said. His basement work area includes shipping boxes, stacks of folded T-shirts with the "America's Game" art printed on it and, of course, baseballs – buckets of baseballs.
Rueckert has teamed up with other Sioux Falls businesses to distribute his art. It's on the wall at A League of Your Own sports store on Phillips Avenue and has sold through Crossroads Book & Music on 41st Street.
Kathryn Macziewski, owner of A League of Your Own, said she carries Rueckert's art in part because he's local but also because it's a natural extension of her clothing and accessories.
"It's authentic," she said.
Rueckert also has a new arrangement with Weisser Distributing in Tea to sell the art through Amazon. Weisser, which primarily sells auto body supplies and tools online, ordered 200 pieces for the holidays.
Those arrangements and online demand mean that Rueckert has more than 100 custom orders to fill between the World Series and the holiday shopping season. He knows he will be busy, as each piece takes about two hours to finish.
Rueckert buys his baseballs when they are ready to be thrown into the garbage by college and high school teams. Locally, he buys balls from Augustana College, the University of Sioux Falls and the Sioux Empire Baseball League. He buys them from other areas of the country, too, especially the South where the sport is played all year.
His parents in St. Louis help him cut them into the pieces for his art – it takes three baseballs to make one flag. He uses an adhesive to attach them to a matte board, signs them and frames them before shipping the final piece to customers. He also has hired a couple of college students to cut the covers off the balls.
Some balls have initials on them, grass stains, dirt marks or frayed laces. Rueckert likes how they each tell a story of a ball's unique journey in the sport.
"Every ball is different," he said. "Maybe it was a home run ball."
VIDEO
To watch Rueckert turn a baseball into a piece of art, visit www.siouxfallsbusinessjournal.com