Description
Fans going to Ottawa Stadium are greeted by this gigantic baseball player! Sculptor Russell Yuristy created the 22 foot (six metre) tall aluminum batter to remind everyone that it’s a hitter’s park. The vertical bat, torso and legs astride echo the three-part tower structure of the stadium. Curved lines give the figure a poised, alert energy that creates a sense of intensity that will soon explode into a powerful swing. Viewed from both sides, the batter is a switch-hitter, a batter who can hit from either side of home plate. The mammoth structure is so visible from Highway 417 that the Ontario Ministry of Transportation had to review and approve plans before the artist ordered materials. The final design took over three months to build and opened to the public in 1994. The artist, Russell Yuristy, considers the artwork to be a large scale expression of both drawing and sculpture.