[Relief Panel] Depictions of ballplayers were popular among the Maya. Large ball courts were common features in Maya towns and cities. A peripheral wall decorated with carved stone panels usually surrounded these courts. This panel was once part of one of those walls.

This ballplayer wears a jaguar god's headdress. It indicates that ball games performed a central religious function in Maya society by playing a role in sacrificial rituals intended to appease the gods.

Courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian, presented by Dr. and Mrs. Arthur M. Sackler
Limestone Relief Panel Depicting Ballplayer, Maya peoples, Guatemala, A.D. 600-900

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