The Diamond King
An inside look at the new film with director Marq Evans.
I’m going to change things up a bit this week. Instead of rambling about how a baseball game is like a relationship or reminiscing about Buddy Biancalana or something along those lines, I want to talk about The Diamond King, a new baseball documentary that will release on April 25th. That’s just two days from now!
The Diamond King is about the life and career of Dick Perez, the renowned baseball painter. I’m willing to guess that, like me, most of you are familiar with his work, even if you don’t know Dick.* Luckily, I was able to chat with director Marq Evans (check out his IMDB page here) to get the skinny on the movie below. He was even nice enough to provide some powder blue paintings by Perez, which I’ve scattered throughout the article.
*Sorry. I couldn’t help myself.
If you want to check out the trailer before you read our conversation, you can do so here.
1. With all due respect to Dick Perez, he isn't a household name. At the risk of revealing a few minor spoilers, can you give the readers a quick intro to the subject of your documentary?
Dick Perez was for 20 years the official artist of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and co-founder of the Perez-Steele Art Gallery. But I didn’t know any of that when I first started looking into his story. I knew his name as the artist behind the Donruss Diamond Kings baseball cards that were such an integral part of my childhood and early baseball card collecting days.
2. Now that we know a little more about Dick Perez, can you tell us about yourself, and why you were drawn to telling his story?
In June of 2022 I was looking through my old baseball card collection with my son when I came across a page in the binder of Diamond Kings, and they stopped me in my tracks. I was immediately transported back into my childhood. When I was a kid, I never really considered the question of, “Who is the artist behind the Diamond Kings?” But that’s the first thing that ran through my head three years ago. So I started doing some research.*
*Not gonna lie, this anecdote hit very close to home for me. The origins of Powder Blue Nostalgia can be traced back to some very similar moments with my own sons, so I get where Marq is coming from.
I ended up at Dick’s website (dickperez.com) and that’s where I learned about his history with the Hall of Fame, and that he was also famous in certain circles for the Hall of Fame Art Postcards he began painting pre-Diamond Kings. He’s painted literally thousands of baseball paintings spanning the entire history of the game, and led an incredibly interesting life story. It was that day I thought the subject of Dick Perez, and a history of baseball through his life and work, could make for a great documentary. So I reached out to him via email, he was open to the idea, and we were off and running.
3. The Diamond King boasts an impressive collection of talented contributors, including Joe Posnanski (credited as co-writer), NLBM President Bob Kendrick, and historian John Thorn. Can you tell us a little about how they came to the project and what it was like working with them?
I feel so fortunate to have been able to work with the team we put together for The Diamond King. From the beginning I had an idea for an on-camera narrator that would act as kind of a “voice of baseball,” partly to expand the story but also as an excuse to show more of Dick’s work (since the narrator would be surrounded by projected images of Dick’s painting). One of my best friends happened to be next door neighbors with the amazing actor, John Ortiz, and suggested we link up. John is a huge baseball fan and loved the idea of being the on-camera narrator. I’m blown away by the work he did in the film and have never really seen anything like it in a documentary.
He’s narrating/acting to words written by Joe Posnanski. The Baseball 100* is probably my favorite baseball book of all time, so when one of my producers, Michelle Quisenberry, mentioned she had a connection to Joe and would reach out, I was really excited. Joe figured we wanted him to do an interview for the film, but I pitched that he write the narration and he jumped on board. It was such a pleasure working with Joe and every time he would send over some of the sections I was just blown away.
*Posnanski has been a major influence on my own work. The Baseball 100 is, as Marq says, fantastic, and I think I might love his follow-up, Why We Love Baseball, even more. Anytime I see Posnanski’s name on something, I’m automatically in.
John Thorn is a longtime friend of Dick Perez and he was an immediate “yes” when I emailed asking for an interview. Bob Kendrick* came a bit late in the game. He had been on my short-list of interviews, but I hadn’t been able to connect with him. During a pretty late-stage rough cut of the film that Joe Posnanski saw, I asked if he felt it was missing any voices, and he suggested Bob. They’re close friends, so Bob was in, and really added a missing element to the story.
*I might be a tad biased, being from Kansas City, but if you love baseball and you’ve never made the trip to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, you should definitely check that off the list ASAP. Well worth the trip, no matter where you’re coming from, and if you’re really lucky, you might even catch Mr. Kendrick leading a tour.
4. Do you have a personal favorite among Dick Perez's paintings?
It’s so hard to name a favorite of Dick’s paintings because honestly I love so many of them. When we first started working on the project he sent me a copy of his book, The Immortals, which is really an unbelievable book. The first week I had it I would just sit at my dining room table for hours looking through the pages because I was so amazed by the work. I’m really into the “deadball” era, so I’d say anything he painted from that time stands out as some of my favorites because of the uniforms and ballparks and some of the unique faces those players had.
5. Aside from the film itself, just to give readers a better feel for you, who is your favorite baseball team? Do you have a favorite baseball moment or memory? A favorite player, either all-time or current?
I’m a Mariners fan, which literally always ends in disappointment, considering they’ve never even been to a World Series. My all-time favorite player is Ken Griffey, Jr.*, and it’s been a lot of fun watching my son fall in love with baseball and have a young player like Julio Rodriguez come up that gives him that same feeling Griffey gave me. Seeing Griffey hit a home run at the Kingdome in the 1995 playoffs is an all-time moment for me, and then just going to games now with my son and sharing a love for baseball is really special.^
*I want to say I know where Marq is coming from as a Royals fan, but even we have a couple of championships. The life of a Mariners fans is a tough one, and I respect anyone willing to stick with it. Griffey is one of my all-time favorite players though, in addition to being the face of my favorite video game, so anyone who loves the Kid is all right in my book.
^There is nothing better than sharing the game of baseball with your son. Fortunately, I’ve been able to experience that with all three of my sons. Currently, my youngest son has the privilege of watching Bobby Witt Jr. (his generation’s George Brett) as his introduction to the game. Between Bobby Baseball and J-Rod, our sons have plenty to cheer for. It’s the kind of thing that gives me hope for the game’s future.
6. In addition to a better appreciation of Mr. Perez's work, is there anything you'd like viewers to walk away from the film feeling?
I certainly hope baseball fans come away loving the film and with an appreciation of Dick’s work and contribution to the game, but I also hope it finds an audience with people that don’t even necessarily care about baseball. Dick’s story is an inspiring one, from losing his dad at a young age and being sent (by himself at age six) to live with distant relatives in Harlem, not knowing the English language, then finding baseball and reaching the pinnacle of a profession. And I was inspired by the love story between him and his wife. So I hope there are multiple threads viewers can hang onto and enjoy.
So there you have it. If that doesn’t get you excited to see The Diamond King, you might want to double-check whether you actually like baseball. The movie will be available April 25th on Amazon Prime, AppleTV, and several other outlets. Check in at the website below for the latest updates and information regarding how to watch it.
www.thediamondkingmovie.com/watch
See you at the movies! (Metaphorically, of course.)
Thanks for reading Powder Blue Nostalgia. It was really cool to talk to Marq about his movie, and I encourage everyone to check it out. For those of you in my age demographic, which I would imagine is most of you, did you have any favorite Diamond King cards? The Dale Murphy card definitely sticks out as a personal favorite for me. Or if you have any other Dick Perez connections to share, this is the place to do it. Plus, feel free to come back after you’ve seen the movie and tell us what you think!
Great stuff, as usual, the 87 Donruss Diamond King Brett is awesome; however, the 82 Donruss is my favorite DK. It is a crime that Brett isn't pictured in powder blue! Dick got it right in 1990 when he put Bo Jackson in the powder blue. It's another great one.
BTW, in a Facebook group called Sports Card Nonsense, a guy posted pictures to the master set all autographed of Diamond Kings. "This took two of us over 23 years combined to complete! The 1982-1993 Diamond Kings set autographed by every player. It is over 330 cards! Just wanted to share this nonsense!" It is impressive.
Idk where I missed this announcement, but looks like a cool doc! That’s my favorite type of tv to watch while I fold laundry, so I’ll get to it pretty soon (the kids have lots of dirty laundry, no Henley pun intended).