Customer Reviews

Ballparks of North America: A Comprehensive Historical Reference to Baseball Grounds, Yards and Stadiums, 1845 to Present

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

 

 

this book is an incredible reference for anyone interested in, or doing research about, baseball parks. park statistics, such as fence distances and capacities are listed, as well as interesting tid-bits about the 'uniqueness' of each park.

This baseball book may look plain from the outside but I've never read anything so comprehensive in my life. I recently completed a massive research paper on the history of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAAPBBP for short), the first professional baseball league, and found the information to be not only accurate, but very helpful in my research.

During my research I read thousands of original newspaper and magazine clippings from that era and found that a lot of the information corroborated with what Benson stated. For example, in baseball's early days many parks were only used as weekend venues. I regularly came across this information while researching my paper and was a bit confused prior to reading this book.

There are numerous stories that make this book special. Too many to count in fact, so I'll just list some of my favorites:

1) In one semi-pro league a keg was placed on the field and ball players were allowed to drink during the game based on performance. For example, a double allowed the player to take a drink while a homerun allowed the player to drink as much as he pleased. One newspaper clip stated that, the good players drank their fill while the lesser ones "nearly died of thirst."

2) In an effort to increase ticket sales, one club opted to try their first ever "Ladies Day." As it turned out, the starting pitcher was a ladies' man and the noticeable swooning by the female attendees only increased his general cockiness. Throughout the game he would continuously show up the umpire to rile up the home crowd until the umpire exacerbated the situation by throwing the player out of the game. Enraged, the female crowd stormed the field and the umpire was nearly trampled to death, only surviving when several of the players carried him into the locker room, where he snuck out in a disguise several hours later. Needless to say, the team never had a "Ladies Day" ever again.

3) A huge crowd turned out for a splendid double-header contest on a July 4th contest late in the 19th century. Unfortunately, the weather was not accommodating and it seemed unlikely that any game could be played. But, not wanting to lose out on such a large draw, the teams decided to play anyway - with the outfield flooded. Playing fields were not what they were back then and the fenceless outfield rested in a valley. Several times throughout the game players were forced to swim on balls hit over their heads.

Again, these are just some of the treasures that this book details.

I would recommend this book to anybody who has ever wanted to know where baseball has been played and where baseball gets its famous character from.

This is a library-style book with very few pictures and lots of text. In my mind, it had the potential to be the ultimate detail reference on ballparks. But it really doesn't hold up very well upon close inspection.

To its advantage, it covers a whole lot of parks, many not even mentioned in other surveys. If you are wondering whether a park existed, this book will probably answer your question.

But when you actually look into the detail listed for the parks, many small (and sometimes not so small) inaccuracies become apparent.

The entries for Minneapolis give some good examples. A park actually known as "Athletic Park" is called "Hiawatha Park" in the book -- a name which isn't mentioned in any other accounts which I can find. It's location is listed as "Hennepin Avenue and 5th Street" which is a full city block off from the actual location between 5th and 6th Streets North and First and Second Avenues North.

The entry for Met Stadium also contains several little errors, such as claiming it was built over a wheat field, when in fact the field contained mostly soybeans, onions and some sweet corn.

I know these are nitpicky details, but with so many little errors in just two entries, one has to question the accuracy of other details in other entries.

If you can't trust the details, the book is of questionable value.

The articles which accompany the entries also are rather poorly written, and have a style which feels a bit like modified old newspaper articles. This suggests that the source material may have been questionable, and that perhaps only a single source was used on each park.

I gave it two stars just to acknowledge the depth of the attempt. Clearly a lot of work went into the book, but still not enough.

As someone who plays simulated baseball religiously (using OOTP Baseball Manager), this is an amazing and invaluable resource. It gives a huge amount of information about parks all over the continent. Since the book came out in 1989, it is somewhat outdated for newer parks, but that information is generally available online anyway. Where this book shines is in its information about lesser known and older ballparks. Statistical information like capacity and dimensions is in the book as well as a brief (and sometimes not brief at all) write-up for each park. I use this all the time for creating fictional historical "what-if" leagues.

Overall, an excellent reference to begin a search on ballparks. (here comes the but) BUT it seemes there are some inaccuracies about the very old, pretty unknown parks around the country. For Example: Recreation Park, Pittsburgh PA. The Author claims that there was baseball played on a field at 1200 Allegheny Avenue, Pittsburgh from 1876-1887. A City Map of 1897 shows housing located on the property. I question other sources in the book.