FORT WORTH, Texas -- Where do Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, racism, politics, religion and suits without heads come together in a strange brew of baseball and art? In the mind and studio of Dallas baseball artist Grant Smith.

"Sports art, you know, through the ages, has been something that is very accessible to the masses. So, I have been trying to have mine that are more concept driven. They are accessible just because it's a baseball player but it's very multi-leveled as far as concept," said Smith.

His love of the game comes from a lifetime of conversations with his now departed father, a man who much like many role models, found imparting life's lessons difficult to do.

"That bond was pretty strong between us, so, yeah, I definitely think about him," Smith said.

While each canvas contains heart and soul it sometimes takes ingredients of a more tangible nature to capture an image, such as a painting of Babe Ruth with real gum on his painted hat.

"The photo that I looked at, I don't know if the photographer didn't like that he was chewing gum, but he had him put his gum on his hat. I kinda liked that. So, I chewed gum for about a month and saved it on a plate and then finally attached it into the canvas," Smith said.

In addition to gum, Smith has used his own hair on his artwork as well.

Smith's work has been shown across the country and has drawn the eye of current major league stars including Yankee outfielder Johnny Damon, who has purchased four original works and then invited Smith to his wedding in Florida.

"I met him in a bar and he and I just started talking and we ended up kinda hitting it off. The next time the Red Sox came into Arlington he came to my house and picked out a bunch of stuff," Smith said.

You won't find any current players captured on Smith's canvas but the artist does have an idea about what he could paint in regards to one of the most notorious of today's stars, Barry Bonds.

"If I painted him I would probably just paint like his eye -- completely just beet red because it had some many drugs in it or something. Or maybe just a zoom in on a forearm or something ... just where it looks like an abstract painting but it's just veins," Smith said.

You can see more of the artist's work on his Web site grant9smith.com.