John D’Acquisto builds art career after Major League Baseball

PHOENIX – Long after the crowds stopped cheering and the radar guns stopped flashing, John D’Acquisto found himself staring at a blank canvas. 

In the 1970s, D’Acquisto was one of baseball’s hardest throwers, a right-hander whose fastball could reach 100 mph at a time when triple-digit velocity was virtually unheard of. During a 10-year major league career with teams including the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres, he made a living blowing fastballs past hitters. 

Since then, D’Acqusito has become an author, writing his autobiography “Fastball John.” He has taken and passed online courses through Harvard, as well as created Kinetic Force Analysis, a biomechanics company that analyzes how the body moves in an effort to prevent athlete injuries. 

However, it’s art that has most occupied his attention in recent years.

D’Acquisto is an established artist in the Valley whose paintings hang in many homes and whose tribute artwork has become a familiar sight throughout baseball’s tight-knit alumni community.

At first, D’Acquisto wasn’t even sure his artwork was worth anything, but then somebody offered to buy one.

“I remember thinking, ‘Buy it? Are you kidding me?’” D’Acquisto said. “That made me realize maybe there was something here worth pursuing.”

Fifteen years later, he is still creating.

“I work in a lot of different mediums,” D’Acquisto said. “I use everything from a No. 2 pencil and art paper to oil paints, acrylics, watercolor and digital art mainly using Procreate.”

D’Acquisto’s art is unique in the sense that he often blends traditional and modern techniques, combining hand-drawn sketches, paintings and digital tools to make the final product.

His work spans a variety of subjects. There are portraits of baseball legends, sunsets, beaches and even scenes inspired by Europe.

Above all, baseball remains at the heart of much of what he creates.

Over the years, D’Acquisto has produced portraits of players including Mike Trout, Rollie Fingers and Barry Bonds. He has also created countless memorial pieces honoring former players after they’ve passed away.

Those tributes have become one of the most recognizable parts of his artistic brand.

“One thing that’s remarkable is that whenever a baseball player passes away, it seems like by the very next day John has created a tribute collage honoring them,” said Steven Rothschild, a longtime friend. “He posts them on Facebook, and they’re always thoughtful and beautifully done.”

For D’Acquisto, the motivation behind those pieces isn’t financial.

“I don’t sell most of those tribute pieces,” D’Acquisto said. “If a player’s family contacts me, I’ll have the artwork framed and send it to them free of charge.”

Art has provided D’Acquisto something different that baseball never could. It has offered him a chance to keep learning, to keep creating and to keep evolving.

“I never considered myself an artist growing up,” D’Acquisto said. “I took classes and learned techniques, but eventually I reached a point where I could look at something and put it onto paper. That’s when the beauty of art really began for me.”

His artistic journey has been guided by several mentors.

Among the most influential was Dennis Desprois, an experienced artist and former Giants photographer who first met D’Acquisto during spring training in the 70s.

Years later, they both settled in Arizona and their friendship took on a different form. D’Acquisto had started experimenting more with art and he had questions.

Lots of them.

“John would constantly ask me questions, and I appreciated that because he truly wanted to understand the answers,” Desprois said.

D’Acquisto also credits former major league player and artist Gene Locklear for helping convince him that he belonged in the art world.

“Both of those men helped me realize I actually had artistic talent,” D’Acquisto said.

Desprois has watched that talent develop over time.

“When he first started, he was still finding his style,” Desprois said. “Like most artists, he was influenced by other people and learning the craft.”

That is no longer the case.

“Over the last couple of years, though, he’s grown tremendously,” Desprois said. “He’s moved beyond simply creating images and has truly become an artist.”

Desprois believes the greatest strength in D’Acquisto’s work goes beyond skill.

“John is a happy guy,” he said. “That positivity comes through in his work.”

That positivity is evident when D’Acquisto describes his paintings. He hopes viewers experience something more when they see his art.

“I want people to disappear into it,” he said. “I want them to step away from who they are for a moment and become part of the scene.”

Whether he is painting a baseball player or a coffee shop in Rome, the objective remains the same: to create a piece that transports people and makes them feel something real.

Rothschild believes he has succeeded in that goal. 

“What impresses me most is how realistic it is,” Rothschild said. “It’s different from other sports artists. John’s work has its own style.”

Desprois sees something similar.

“The artwork itself is very well composed,” he said. “That’s one of his strengths. He has a natural sense of where things belong in a picture.”

The longtime mentor believes D’Acquisto has found the artistic voice for which he has been searching.

“He still experiments, but there’s a consistency to what he does now,” Desprois said. “That’s a sign of a mature artist. He’s reached the big leagues of art.”

D’Acquisto’s journey has not been without setbacks. In the late 1990s, he served four years in federal prison on wire fraud and forgery charges. He has addressed this openly in his autobiography, reflecting on the mistakes he made and the path that led to his reinvention as an author, entrepreneur and artist.

“He’s very open about his past,” Rothschild said. “He spent some years in jail and he talks about it in his book. He’s just really turned it around since then, and I’m proud of him.”

D’Acquisto continues to create art nearly every day. Part of it is passion and the other part of it is routine.

“It keeps my mind active and keeps me sharp,” he said. “I’m 74, so at my age, that’s important. Art keeps me fresh mentally, and I genuinely enjoy doing it.”

Still, even after a lot of success, the uncertainty never completely disappears.

Artists and athletes, after all, often wrestle with the same fear.

“One thing every artist deals with is the fear of failure,” D’Acquisto said. “You’re always worried someone won’t like your work.”

The results suggest those fears are largely unfounded.

“In 15 years, I’ve only had one piece returned,” he said.

Then he chuckled.

“And that was because I forgot to sign it,” he said.

For D’Acquisto, success isn’t measured by sales, awards or recognition. It’s measured by reactions, memories and most of all smiles.

“What means the most to me is seeing people smile when they receive a piece of my art,” D’Acquisto said. “That’s what makes all the work worthwhile.”

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