Akron artist Mac Love may have been destined to provide the backdrop for the World Series in Cleveland.
As a boy in New York, Love grew up learning to love the Cleveland Indians from his father, a North Olmsted transplant.
He first learned to draw by tracing baseball cards, creating a collage of his best friends’ favorite players when he was only 6.
Now, contracted by a marketing company for Major League Baseball, Love channeled his passion for the Tribe and his professional skills as a full-time artist into an 8-foot-by-12-foot Rally Together mural on Public Square in Cleveland.
Love painted the red, white and blue art piece in the downtown park over nine hours one day while the Tribe was playing the Toronto Blue Jays to earn their trip to the World Series.
Since then, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook have been peppered with photos of fans in front of the mural, which faces the entrance of Tower City and backs up against Rebol, the small eatery that sprouted in Public Square during the park’s recent overhaul.
The mural also has been featured on TV and on MLB.com. On Tuesday, at the request of organizers, Love temporarily moved his giant artwork to the center of Public Square to serve as backdrop for the My Town, My Team Rally featuring local classic rocker Michael Stanley singing his 1983 song My Town about Cleveland.
The MLB initially asked Love — who runs ARTxLove in Akron — to focus on what’s become a theme for the Tribe this season: Party at Napoli’s. But as a fan, Love was uncomfortable with that singular focus.
“The spirit of this team has never been about one player, it’s about the team,” Love said.
He ultimately convinced the MLB to let him broaden the focus, squeezing in more than a dozen life-size players and iconic moments from the Indian 2016 seasons. It includes Manager Terry Francona pumping his fist after a shut out,Tyler Naquin celebrating an inside-the-park walk-off and Coco Crisp running the bases after a home run against the Boston Red Sox during the playoffs.
What will happen to the mural after the World Series is unclear, but Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco has called dibs.
Neither Love nor his father, Tim Love, who now lives in Connecticut, is going to the World Series games.
But Mac Love put images of his mural on T-shirts and sent them to his dad and his buddies who are cheering for the Tribe.
Mac Love — who, with his wife, is expecting their first child in January — predicts the Indians will take the series in five games.
He wondered Tuesday what impact a Tribe World Series triumph preceded by a Cavalier’s championship could have on a generation of Northeast Ohioans born into victory.
“My hope is that children still have the humility of so many Ohioans with an underdog spirit,” he said. “I don’t want to live in a place of entitlement. We’ll take the titles. We just won’t take the sense of entitlement.”
Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.