Customer Reviews

Lost Ballparks: A Celebration of Baseball's Legendary Fields

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A fun, nostalgic view of many famous (and some not-so famous) ballparks that now belong to the ages.

The book covers 22 ballparks that sadly are no more. The famous parks that one would expect are all here (the 16 classic teams' lost parks are all covered), but Ritter tosses in some surprises. Some recent parks have chapters - Baltimore Municipal, Kansas City Municipal, Metropolitan, and Jarry Park - along with some nearly forgotten older parks - League Park, Hilltop Park, and Baker Bowl.

The big surprise is that Ritter includes some notable minor league parks, such as Hollywood's Gilmore Field, Montreal Stadium (Jackie Robinson's 1946 home), Minneapolis' Nicollet Park, Buffalo's Offerman Stadium, San Francisco's Seals Stadium, and the OTHER Wrigley Field (the one in Los Angeles where Home Run Derby was filmed). How many ballpark books include these with the well-chronicled Ebbets Field? Bravo!

Each park gets about a ten-page chapter, which includes a light-hearted but substantial historical narrative, a list of top ten highlights, and plenty of nostalgic pictures. Much of the narratives cover familiar ground, but most fans will learn something new, particularly about the minor league parks.

My only reservation about the book is that, while the narratives touch the important points about the parks, it left me wanting more.

It's interesting reading this together with Green Cathedrals, which is a much better reference book but has long collections of facts rather than narratives and many fewer pictures.

The book was written in 1992. A lot of notable parks have been retired since then (Tiger, Candlestick, Astrodome, County, Cleveland Municipal), so hopefully Ritter will revise the book.

Hello to all, my name is Jose' Roberto Mesarina and this is my review. I purchased this book many years ago right after Comiskey Park was demolished. I never took a picture of old Comiskey when it was still around because like many other fans , I thought it was built to last a lifetime. I was wrong . It only lasted 81 years. I bought this book because I wanted to read up on Comiskey Park (home of the Chicago White Sox) but what I got was much more than that. I was taken by all the old black and white still shots, the old factories and neighborhoods in the back ground,the prices advertised on the signs, and lastly I was given a sports history lesson on many memorable games played at many lost ballparks. This book is a must for the history buffs and sports buffs alike. I am not really a sports fanatic but I really did enjoy this book and it remains to this day one of my favorite books. This book shows us a glimpse at not only Lost Ballparks , but also Lost America. I did find that many Negroe League pictures where missing from this book but I'm not sure if they owned their own ballparks. If they did, they where not in this book. Otherwise, all the pictures,stories and memories shared by the fans , players , and the author make this a 5 star book. I'm Jose' Roberto Mesarina . Have a nice day.

Mr. Ritter takes a fond "look back" at past baseball stadiums that are now mostly memories. I find it interesting that the new stadiums being built are "throwbacks" to the designs of most of the parks described in this book. Which in my opinion is probably a good thing!

While the book mostly describes old-time major league stadiums (complete with "Top Ten" lists of the most historic events to take place at each stadium), a few minor league parks are also mentioned.

Lots of history and photographs are featured with each park's description. I like a couple other reviewers sincerely hope an updated edition of this book will be out soon, now that so many other ballparks (Candlestick Park, Tiger Stadium, and the AstroDome, for example) have been replaced.

If you enjoy reading about what it was like to watch a game in these old parks, you will enjoy this book!

Also recommended: Nuggets on the Diamond, Grand Minor League, Baseball's Hometown Teams: The Story of the Minor Leagues

Lost Ballparks by Lawrence Ritter is a great book for anyone interested in old major league ballparks. Loaded with excellent, often historic pictures (including Mays' catch in the '54 Series and Maz's home run in the '60 Series), the book recounts essentially all of the steel and concrete era parks (built between 1909 and 1915) that were used in Major League Baseball but no longer exist. Some older parks (Baker Bowl, Hilltop Park) and 1950-60's era parks (Metropolitan Stadium, Memorial Stadium) are also included, as are selected minor league parks. The book naturally piques your interest, and leaves you wanting more.

Hopefully a new edition will be printed soon; the book was originally published in 1992 and doesn't include parks closed since then. Any new edition would also benefit from including Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and the old Yankee Stadium. Even though these parks still exist, they would round out the history of the classic era of Major League Baseball.

The only shortcoming of the book is that it is a bit short; I would prefer some of the minor league parks be replaced with longer stories about major league parks. However, if you are interested in old ballparks or baseball history, BUY THIS BOOK!

THIS BOOK IS AN EXCELLENT WRITTEN HISTORY OF OLD BASEBALL PARKS. IWAS ABLE TO EXPERIENCE THE POLO GROUNDS, EBBETS FIELD, CROSLEY FIELD, ETC. THE PICTURES ARE FANTASTIC, AND LARRY RITTER'S WRITING IS UNMATCHED. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ABOUT OLD BALLPARKS, THIS IS YOUR BOOK.

I found this book to be long on pictures and short on useful content. For example, why exactly does a book on ballparks need to editorialize on who was the best third baseman ever? I wanted to learn the fascinating details about Memorial Stadium, the Polo Grounds, and others ... not some meaningless factoids that could have been pulled from countless other team or official histories. Altogther a bit of a disappointment ... does not even compare to Green Cathedrals, by Philip Lowry.

This is a decent book, but it could have been much better. This book was written in 1992, so it misses out on the golden age of retired baseball parks. For the older reader, it details some of the parks that have been gone for 50-60 years, but the younger reader may be left wondering why all the ballparks they grew up with and remember like County Stadium in Milwaukee, the Kingdome, Three Rivers, and Candlestick aren't detailed in this book. If you're over 60, or a big baseball fan you may enjoy this book. Under 30 though, you may wind up reading about a few of Satdiums you never heard of.

Lost Ballparks (1992) by Lawrence S. Ritter is a fascinating look at old ballparks from the past - the very distant past. The book has an interesting introduction written by Robert Creamer. The stadiums that are covered are:

1. Baker Bowl (Philadelphia)
2. Braves Field (Boston)
3. Comiskey Park (Chicago)
4. Crosley Field (Cincinnati)
5. Ebbets Field (Brooklyn)
6. Forbes Field (Pittsburgh)
7. Gilmore Field (Hollywood)
8. Griffith Stadium (Washington, D.C.)
9. Hilltop Park (New York)
10. League Park (Cleveland)
11. Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)
12. Montreal Stadium and Jarry Park Stadium (Montreal)
13. Municipal Stadium (Kansas City)
14. Nicollet Park and Metropolitan Stadium (Minneapolis)
15. Offermann Stadium (Buffalo)
16. Polo Grounds (New York)
17. Seals Stadium (San Francisco)
18. Shibe Park (Philadelphia)
19. Sportsman's Park (St. Louis)
20. Wrigley Field (Los Angeles)

Descriptions are given of each stadium, along with their Ten Most Memorable Moments. The book is loaded with lots of good photographs and many interesting stories.

A lot of parks have closed and been demolished since 1992, including Tiger Stadium, the old Yankee Stadium, Cleveland Municipal Stadium, the Astrodome, Riverfront Stadium, and many others, so an updated version of this book would be welcome. I guess we should wait until Fenway Park and Wrigley Field go (if they ever do) before we can expect an updated version of this book.

If you're old school in your way of thinking and when it comes to baseball, you owe it to yourself to check out this book. This book brings you back to a time when baseball was just baseball and stadiums were just stadiums. This was a time long before baseball stadiums were taken over by corporate America. It was a time when seats, hot dogs, peanuts, and popcorn were cheap. It was a time when somebody could sneak into a stadium without paying and get away with it, in contrast to nowadays where you have to go through tight security just to get into the stadium. I have never snuck into a stadium, but you know what I mean. The good 'ol days of innocence are LOOOOOOONNG GONE (as Ernie Harwell would say).

I found myself scanning pictures from this book to e-mail friends so often that they thought i stumbled onto a baseball archival treasure chest. Not only does this book talk about park dimensions but about plays and players also. There are so many anecdotes in this book it becomes a historical account of the game too. Besides the great pictures it is also well written. I never thought the book was dry, it is niether too long or too short.

The nostalgia aspects of this book are exceptional in how it truly brings to life the experience of visiting one of the old ballparks. Photos and written memories are put together very well.

What I get most out of the book, though, is the fact that the old ballparks were not "standardized" as they are today. The dimensions of each park varied quite a lot and it created a different play of the game within each park. Some parks were small in size and some were enormous, which had a direct impact on the talents and skills needed to be successful within each park.

This is an outstanding book for any person who loves the history of the game, the history of various franchises, and the history of America.