The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Lead and steel grey-brown baseball mitt tilted up on a base and holding a wooden ball made of curved planks of light brown, striated wood. The glove warps around the ball, a rectangular band connecting the body of the glove to the thumb.

Standing Mitt with Ball

1973

Claes Thure Oldenburg

(American, 1929–2022)
America
steel, lead and wood
Overall: 210.8 x 241.2 x 388.4 cm (83 x 94 15/16 x 152 15/16 in.)
Gift of Agnes Gund given in honor of George Gund III 2017.125
© Claes Thure Oldenburg
Location: ATRM Atrium

Did You Know?

This artist makes super-sized re-creations of everyday objects.

Description

Oldenburg is known for creating artworks that reinterpret the quotidian objects that make up our everyday lives in a variety of sizes and materials, whether they are truly banal, bizarre, or curiously appealing. This colossal work conflates rigid steel, soft lead, and curved wooden planks to present a monumental distillation of America’s favorite pastime.
  • Knight, Michael. “12-Foot-High Baseball Mitt is Safe at Home.” New York Times. October 17, 1973.
    Krebs, Betty Dietz. “‘Standing Mitt’ Sends Smaller Version Here.” Dayton Daily News. January 25, 1974.
    Wootten, Dick. “17 area artists are included in NOVA exhibit.” Cleveland Press. December 1, 1973.
    McCaslin, Walt. “Mitt-and-ball art shows way creativity digresses, develops.” Dayton Journal Herald. January 25, 1975.
    Borsick, Helen. “Monumental Mitt.” The Plain Dealer. December 2, 1973.
  • The New Gallery
  • {{cite web|title=Standing Mitt with Ball|url=false|author=Claes Thure Oldenburg|year=1973|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2017.125