Customer Reviews

Spring Training: Baseball's Early Season

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

 

 

The passion of the authors is expressed brilliantly in the pictures and words found in this book. If you have been fortunate enough to have attended spring training you will be reminded of how special the atmosphere is to take in a ballgame in the most informal of settings where players and fans interact casually. If you have never attended spring training this will inspire you to get to Florida or Arizona to experience baseball the way it was meant to be.

It is unfortunate that Shaughnessy did not contribute more text to this collaboration with Grossfeld. By virtue of the photos alone, the book makes a decent coffee table book, but more history related to the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues, their histories and ballparks would have made the book more worthwhile. It would be nice to see a book devoted to the history of the two leagues and to the ballparks, fans and players that have participated in spring training through the years.

I echo another reviewer's sentiment that some of the photographs seemed to be included simply because they accented the female form (from a variety of angles), rather than for their relevance to spring training baseball. While I was not offended by these photos, from a baseball fan's point of view they did not strengthen my reading experience.

the book and pictures are fabulous......even for a fan that's not a die-hard.........
This book takes you through memories forgotten and makes you want to create new ones during spring. You cannot go wrong buying this for any fan!

This book would make a fine reference for a class project
on baseball. Attractions from Florida to Arizona depict
young rookies demonstrating their considerable skills. There
is an excellent introduction called "Renewal in Spring Training"
by the legendary Cal Ripkind. Cal explains how the busy spring
season brings together players with a job to do and rosters
to write. The author explains that a visit to teams in spring
training provides the best opportunity to view players in
close proximity. This work is perfect for baseball enthusiasts.

This is the kind of book a woman like my wife buys for a guy like me because I like baseball so she thought I'd like it. It's okay, full of pretty pictures that [take up] a couple of hours, but there's not much too it. I'd rather be at spring training than read about it. I also think she thought that since it was by Shaughnessy the book would be about the Red Sox, but it's not. Oh well.

I bought this book for my son and was quite surprised to discover that some of the pictures were inappropriate for an eleven-year old. I'm hardly a prude but I can't understand why a book on this topic would include sexist, suggestive photographs of female fans. I try to teach my son not to view women as sex objects but a handful of pictures in this book have little to do with baseball or spring training and do just that. Shame on the authors, who should know better.