Dozens of unique painted baseballs on display in Westmoreland County

PNC Park isn't the only place this season that has some great baseball. Some 35 miles away at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg sits one of the most interesting and unique collections of baseball art anywhere in the world.

"'Play Ball! The Art of George Sosnak,' is a really exciting new exhibition at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art that features over 60 baseballs that are intricately painted by Pittsburgh native George Sosnak," said Dr. Erica Nuckles, the museum's director of learning and engagement. 

Nuckles says that Sosnak, while born in Pittsburgh, lived for many years in Florida and worked as a minor league umpire. And she says he was a self-taught artist who got into making baseball art, kind of out of left field.

"In the 1950s, one of the fans of the teams he was umpiring for came up to him and said, 'George Sosnak, would you mind drawing my favorite player on this baseball?' And it really just opened up this whole world of folk art that he really embraced," said Nuckles.

Sosnak worked on over 3,000 balls over the course of his life, and he completed some 800. And while the baseballs encompass many different players and teams, the man from Pittsburgh never forgot about his hometown Buccos.

"Of course, because George Sosnak was from Pittsburgh, there are a lot of Pittsburgh Pirates balls here in the exhibition that he did throughout his life featuring famous players like Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski and Mazeroski's famous 1960s World Series home run," Nuckles said. "And a really fun part of the Pirates balls are because he was working on these from the 1950s through the 1980s, you can really see the evolution of the Pittsburgh Pirates mascot, so it is a lot of fun Pittsburgh connections that we have in the exhibition here."

Now you can be playing ball with this exhibition at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art until April 2027. The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday and admission to both the museum and the exhibit are free.