In 1976, $1M Spent on 15 Statues, Murals, Other Art

How does spending $100,000 in 1976 — $482,000 in 2021 dollars — on an 80-100-foot baseball bat made of red painted steel in the plaza of a federal building in Chicago sound?

That’s one example of how the General Services Administration spent more than $1 million — $4.8 million in 2021 dollars — on 15 statues, murals or works of art at federal buildings under the Art in Architecture program.

It earned the administration a Golden Fleece award from Sen. William Proxmire, a Democrat from Wisconsin, who gave the citation for wasteful and nonsensical spending, eventually handing out 168 such awards between 1975 and 1988.

“I am not awarding the 'Fleece' to GSA because I am opposed to encouraging art," Proxmire said in 1976. “The concept is sound. But the execution leaves a lot to be desired.”

Calling baseball “our national game,” he suggested instead a statue of Babe Ruth, Ernie Banks, or Bill Madlock “would have some merit.”

“But a $100,000 bat paid for by all of America’s taxpayers is a strikeout with the bases loaded,” he said.

Other items funded by the $1 million included a $34,000 modern mural in Wilmington, Delaware; a sculpture for Las Cruces, New Mexico, which looks like the tale of a yellow whale; a steel sculpture in St. Paul, Minnesota for $42,500 which seems to be a rusty piece of farm machinery left out in the field”; a “rather mystifying” $45,000 sculpture for Rochester, New York; and a life-sized representation of a restaurant scene in Buffalo, New York for $60,000.

While the GSA said the works of art are “intended to be an integral part of the total architecture design (of the building) and enhance the building’s environment for the occupants and general public,” Proxmire argued, “I’m sure the American public agrees that this baseball bat does not represent the finest work of art standard.”

The #WasteOfTheDay is presented by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.