Customer Reviews

The Ballpark Book : A Journey Through the Fields of Baseball Magic

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Ballpark Book is a handy reference tome for any hardcore baseball fan, but I wish there were more photographs, especially of the parks that have gone through several renovations and remodellings, a la Yankee Stadium and Busch Stadium. The artist renderings are a nice idea, but they're given far too much prominence, and they're woefully inadequate substitutes for actual photos. And the writing, especially on the newer parks, reads more like a press release than an insightful account of baseball park history...

I spent four summers toiling under the unforgiving sun that dominated Arlington Stadium, watching the Texas Rangers and selling peanuts along the first base line. I have since returned to visit The Ballpark, the new, oldstyle park that now is home to the Rangers.....but I have a real soft spot for that old orange monstrosity. The Ballpark Book is a brief look into ballparks of the past (Classics such as Fenway and Wrigley), the domes, the "Middle Ages" (Jack Murphy and Anaheim) and the new "oldstyle" parks noew in vogue. This book describes each park, its personality, the highlights of archecticture, the quirks that allowed each home team an advantage (none who have seen the fog roll into the Stick in San Francisco will ever forget it)and the memorable personalities that inhabit those parks. Having visited over half of the parks and loved each and every one as an intergal park of the game (OK, some I have loved less) I found this book a real joy to read and a real trip down memory lane to pour over photographs and illustrations. This goes right next to my autographs, my orange buttons for surviving extra inning Giants games, and foul ball collection.....a real treat.

Very interesting and enjoyable overall, hence the 4 stars, but they omitted some parks, like Parc du Jarry in Montreal, Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, Sick's Stadium in Seattle and the LA Coliseum. And the cartoons of some of the players are a little cheesy - especially when they're interspersed with photographs. Makes me miss the black-and-white illustrations in the 1983 edition. It could have also used some more shots of places we don't usually see, like the clubhouses, the dugouts and the press boxes. Finally, the book was released a bit prematurely, with Detroit, Houston and San Francisco opening new parks this year and Pittsburgh and Milwaukee following shortly.

This is a good update to "The Sporting News Take Me Out to the Ballpark" book. The pictures provide a great update and the text provides an OK overview. No doubt, the large number of new ballparks caused the exclusion of many parks covered in that earlier edition. I felt the text went out of its way to say something good about every ballpark covered, even though the short duration of many of them is an indication that the designs missed the mark with fans and owners. (The cookie cutter parks of the 60's-70's are shortlived for many reasons.) The authors also missed or didn't write about the economic drivers for ballpark replacement (e.g. the need for more private boxes, the threatened departure from many of the cities by teams forcing the building of new stadiums, etc.). If you are looking for a casual fan's view, this book is fine. If you want more of a historical perspective including economics and architecture, read "Diamonds, The Evolution of the Ballpark".

Part of the beauty of baseball is the ballpark. Picture a warm, sunny afternoon out on the diamond. That image brings to mind many wonderful things, and some of these memories are preserved in "The Ballpark Book". Divided into five sections- The Classics (traditional venues such as Fenway Park in Boston and Chicago's Wrigley Field), The Middle Ages (Anaheim Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium are examples), The Turf Era (the time when "cookie cutter" parks such as Veterans Stadium were built), The New Wave (the return to retro-style parks such as Oriole Park at Camden Yards), and finally, Gone But Not Forgotten (which pays tribute to the fields which no longer exist for play). In this way, the book faithfully traces the evolution of the baseball stadium from simple fields jammed between busy city streets to the new spectacular complexes filled with modern amenities and everything else you can imagine. But this is much more than a history book. Each ballpark is featured in a two-page, full-color painting, upon which are printed various facts and descriptions of great moments happening at that particular field. The rest of the chapter is a tribute to the field and its corresponding team, along with a basic summary of important dates and milestones. The paintings are beautiful, and the casual fan can learn a lot of interesting things by reading through the chapters. However, for people like me who have studied the game thoroughly, the book may serve as more of a tribute and companion rather than a detailed reference volume. The biggest issue I had with "The Ballpark Book" is one which is the fault of the authors and publishers. Unfortunately, the book was first released right at a time when several new and beautiful stadiums were opening around the Major Leagues. None of these parks are included in the first edition, which I found disappointing. However, a revised edition has since been published, and this includes those newer parks that were skipped over the first time around as well as the ones that were included originally. So, if you are a casual fan and want to learn more about the fields you see on TV during games, this is a great choice. For a veteran fan who is a student of the game, this book will not teach you many new things, but it is still nice to look through. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with "The Ballpark Book", no matter what your level of interest is, especially if you purchase the second edition. This is clearly the best of the books of this genre that are available on the market.

The motto for this book could be "Never Met a Ballpark we Didn't Like".

While the Ballpark Book has a lot of unique photos and illustrations, the narrative leaves much to be desired. Any book that seems to gloss over the problems with Cleveland's "Mistake by the Lake" and New Comiskey Park can't be treated as a frank discussion. It is also hard to believe that RFK Stadium, the first of the cookie cutters and movable-stand stadiums, is not included.

However, if a reader is looking for the equivalent of postcards from most of the present baseball parks and a few of the past ones, then the book can be recommended.

This book is styled after 'TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLPARK' published by the Sporting News in 1983. That book included more stadiums that had not been played in for years, eg. Ebbetts Field, Braves Field, Sportman's Park. These were parks that featured many of baseball's historic moments. The Ballpark Book leaves out these older 'unused' parks, and focuses on today current crop of stadiums. The unfortunate point in this approach is that too many of today's ballfields have been built so recently, that not many historic events have been witnessed in them. My son has caught on to baseball, and so we try to visit any stadium we might on vacation. So this book is kind of like a family scrapbook for us too. The drawings are much better in this new book, and it's hardcover to boot. But I'll still leaf through my old '83 copy with joy.

For the fan who is just beginning to appreciate all of the ballparks in major league history, this is the volume for you. If you're a purist who is familiar with the "older" still-present or long-gone parks, you might have wanted(or expected) a little bit more material(pictures,etc.) than what was presented. Being from Michigan, I grew up at Tiger Stadium(Detroit), was fortunate enough to visit old Comiskey, Wrigley Field, Crosley Field and even old Yankee Stadium before the '74-'75 refurbishment. And our visit to Camden Yards during its' first year gave me hope for a return to the "traditional" ballparks of the early part of the 1900's. Those of you like myself looking for material from yesterday, please don't be too disappointed; for this volume is very comprehensive in covering all of the ballparks of yesterday and today regardless of era. A "must add to the collection" for all ball park eficionados in particular, if not baseball fans in gereral.

The book is very egalitarian, and it does not dump on any park, it tries to say nice things about every park, and sometimes it comes off as a stretch.

Each chapter begins with a lovely, impressionist style (I think, art appreciation was a long time ago for me) panting of the ballpark from behind home plate, with little arrows denoting the landmarks. They've managed to find enough so that the young parks have as many landmarks as the classics. Again, some of these I felt were a stretch.

The prose is sentimental and it pushes all the right buttons, it makes you swell or tear up in pride as you read about your favorite park, but its a bit heavy handed.

Overall, a good book, though I wish they would focus more on a few parks.

The ballpark book for ballpark lovers. Includes all current and many older ballparks, including many from the past 30-40 years that have recently been replaced. Great pictures and stories taking you down memory lane time after time.