Years of Greatness, Plus 6 Months to Be Bronzed

Susan Wagner isn’t a baseball fan, but each year she sculpts the memorable visages that represent permanence in baseball history: the Hall of Fame plaques.

“Sometimes I get a chill thinking about people coming up to Cooperstown to look at them,” says Wagner, who has never seen her work displayed in the Hall.

Wagner does her work for Pittsburgh-based Matthews International Corp., maker of the plaques since 1984. Each plaque costs the Hall about $1,100.

Wagner’s work starts early each year, shortly after the new inductees are elected. Aided by photos of Johnny Bench, Carl Yastrzemski, Red Schoendienst and umpire Al Barlick, Wagner sculpted their likenesses with oil-based clay.

“I get the basic form and sculpt it in bas-relief,” she says of the form of sculpture that creates an image raised slightly from the surface. “The photos are pretty good, though I’d really like the players to model for me.”

When Wagner finishes, Hall of Fame director Howard Talbot and curator Ted Spencer review the work and sometimes request changes.

Matthews uses a sand-casting system to turn Wagner’s clay patterns into bronze plaques. Each pattern is placed in a steel frame. Chemically treated sand is then hand molded around the pattern, so that a new impression is made in the sand. When the sand hardens, it creates a new sand mold into which molten bronze is poured. Once the bronze cools, the plaque is buffed, cleaned and highlighted.

“From the time we get Susan’s models, the process takes six weeks,” said Joe Gabig, manager of architectural sales for Matthews.

The other element of each plaque, the complement to the bronze image, is the inscription, written each year by Bill Guilfoile, the Hall’s associate director. “I try to limit what I write to 60 or 70 words because anything too lengthy keeps people from reading it,” Guilfoile said