Zeb's stadium art

By John Pierce

Second-grader Zeb Mathis of Sylva, N.C., draws and builds baseball stadiums just for fun. 

Lots of them.

The BrainTrust envisioning the new SunTrust Park in metro Atlanta should hire him as a consultant. He’ll work for grilled cheese sandwiches and French fries. For now.

His parents, Jeff and Rebecca, display his artwork on a wall in their mountain home — and a floor mat holds the variously shaped and colored blocks that form multi-leveled stadium designs. The kid is good.

They also get him to his own ballgames during the summer as well as to major and minor league stadiums — including historic ballparks in nearby Asheville and in Chicago. Zeb and his dad even drove down to Atlanta recently to share a long rain delay with me.

Last Saturday, while we were waiting on our dinner (delicious mahi-mahi for me and grilled cheese for Zeb) at Lulu’s on Main in quaint downtown Sylva, Rebecca borrowed some crayons from the hostess. And Zeb turned the blank back of my driving instructions into a piece of stadium art — for me.

I’m so glad to have a Zeb Mathis original. 

It will soon be framed and placed among the baseball stuff that gets me through the off-season.

Thanks, Zeb! 

Keep drawing and building.