62. (SOLD OUT) "The Wampum Walloper" 7" x 10.5" Art Print

Up this week is a 7” x 10.5” art print of "The Wampum Walloper".

Available from now until November 28th, this product print is expected to ship approximately 30 days after the purchase window is closed.

This art print (not a comic book) is printed on double-thick card stock & comes packaged in all the nostalgia you can ask for. *Frame not included 

From the Artist:

I am beyond honored to have begun work on this project while Dick Allen was still with us and just as honored to continue on with this work with Dick Allen's Estate. A very special thank you to the Allen Family as well as close Allen Family friend Andrew Woolley.

Dick Allen was someone that has long been on my mind to feature on a Pop Fly. He was truly a legend of the game and an iconic presence in it and a natural fit for this project.. Early on I reached out to contact Mr. Allen & family to ask about getting him on a Pop Fly and he was interested!  Little did I realize that he was unfortunately not doing well at that time. As I began working on the project with them, I soon heard the sad news that Dick Allen had passed and we stopped work on it for nearly a year.

Here we are, nearly a full year after his passing, and approaching the project once more. I know that Dick’s hometown of Wampum, Pennsylvania was very important to his story and I knew I wanted to incorporate it into this piece. When I first began this piece the reference to Wampum was a peripheral element but revisiting his story after his passing, Wampum - the city in which he was born as well as died - took a much larger role. For this piece, I looked at it how we might look at a regional folktale. If there was Wampum Walloper - what could be like? With Allen’s larger-than-life presence I envisioned him as a giant - Paul Bunyan-esque type-character. 



That’s Allen the superhero. Dick Allen the athlete was a trailblazer. He was one of the early African Americans to play for the Phillies during the Civil Rights Movement and played every day admits ongoing racism, enduring racist taunts and threats. Despite his incredible performance on the field with Allen winning the 1964 Rookie of the Year award, that excellence never translated to the respect that he deserved. Allen did not remain silent about and spoke up about and objected to his treatment. “The expectation that people had back then was if you’re black, you can play in the major leagues, but you better be quiet,”  said Mitchell Nathanson’s, author of the biography ‘Allen, God Almighty Hisself: The Life and Legacy of Dick Allen. “It was a shock to white fans and it was a shock to white sportswriters that a black man wasn’t going to get in there and just talk about how appreciative he was to play Major League Baseball.”

  The significance of Allen’s (and other African-American athletes at that time) early role in speaking out against his racist treatment cannot be overstated. Black players of the 1950s and ’60s weren’t just fighting for equality in baseball. They were fighting for equality off the field, too.

Dick Allen’s career was an incredible one. Winning Rookie of the Year in 1964 Allen also received the MVP award in 1972, leading the league in Home Runs, RBI’s, OBP & SLG % that year.  He finished his career in Oakland in 1977. And, full circle, he ties it in again to his hometown. With his familiar #15 already taken when he arrived in Oakland, they asked which number he’d like to have on the back. Without hesitation, he replied “Sixty…For Wampum High School, Class of 1960.”
That wasn’t all. Allen didn’t want his name on the back. He wanted something else.


“Wampum.”


Your support of this print also shows support of an important charity. Both the Allen Family and Pop Fly Pop Shop will be donating a portion of the proceeds to the MLB RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) Program. The MLB RBI program is a youth development program targeted at inner-city, urban, and at-risk youth. The program provides young people with a positive, team-oriented activity while challenging them mentally and physically
.