A familiar sight is returning to Case Quad today: Spitball. The iconic angular black sculpture by renowned artist Tony Smith was removed from campus in May of 2023 for the revamp of the quad.
It has a new location on the south side of Case Quad outside Olin, AW Smith and Bingham Buildings. Part of the Putnam Collection at Case Western Reserve University, the piece was purchased in 1972 to honor Kent Hale Smith, a notable alumnus and former acting president of Case Institute of Technology.
Smith’s piece was designed to represent an outlawed baseball pitch, dubbed a “spitball.” Kathleen Barrie, who leads the Putnam Collection invites members of the CWRU community to admire the work of art—and think about the artist’s creation process.
“It’s meant to be walked around and appreciated from different angles,” Barrie said. “I think from the engineering mind it must be pretty interesting to understand where it starts.”
That said, Barrie encourages viewers to interact with the piece with respect, considering how they would treat Spitball if Smith were standing next to it. In the past, it has been written on in chalk and fliers have been affixed to the surface, both of which are damaging to this iconic piece.
“His work is what carries on his whole thought process and his contributions,” Barrie said of Smith, noting the importance of preserving it. “We’re so lucky to have a piece of this quality from one of the great sculptors of American art.”
Learn more about Spitball and explore other pieces in the Putnam Collection.