The Greatest Ballpark Ever

The Greatest Ballpark Ever
Author: Bob McGee
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 355
Release: 2005-06-22
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0813537754

Generations after its demise, Ebbets Field remains the single most colorful and enduring image of a baseball park, with a treasured niche in the game's legacy and the American imagination. In this lively story of sports, politics, and the talented, hilarious, and charming characters associated with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Bob McGee chronicles the ballpark's vibrant history from the drawing board to the wrecking ball, beginning with Charley Ebbets and the heralded opening in 1913, on through the eras that followed. McGee weaves a story about how Ebbets Field's architectural details, notable flaws, and striking facade brought Brooklyn and its team together in ways that allowed each to define the other. Drawing on original interviews and letters, as well as published and archival sources, The Greatest Ballpark Ever explores the struggle of Charley Ebbets to build Ebbets Field, the days of Wilbert Robinson's early pennant winners, the eras of the Daffiness Boys, Larry MacPhail, and Branch Rickey, the tumultuous field leadership of Leo the Lip, the fiery triumph of Jackie Robinson, the golden days of the Boys of Summer, and Walter O'Malley's ignominious departure. With humor and passion, The Greatest Ballpark Ever lets readers relive a day in the raucous ballpark with its quirky angles and its bent right-field wall, with the characters and events that have become part of the nation's folklore.

The Greatest Ballpark Ever

The Greatest Ballpark Ever
Author: Bob McGee
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2005
Genre: Brooklyn Dodgers (Baseball team)
ISBN: 0813536006

McGee chronicles the Ebbets Field's vibrant history from the first pitch thrown in 1913, through the last out in 1957, until the wrecking ball's descent in 1960. During this period, Ebbets Field was hallowed ground to many Brooklynites.

The Upstart Crow

The Upstart Crow
Author: Gareth Lloyd Evans
Publisher: London : Dent
Total Pages: 424
Release: 1982
Genre: Dramatists, English
ISBN:

Ballpark

Ballpark
Author: Paul Goldberger
Publisher: Knopf
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2019-05-14
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0525656243

An exhilarating, splendidly illustrated, entirely new look at the history of baseball: told through the stories of the vibrant and ever-changing ballparks where the game was and is staged, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning architectural critic. From the earliest corrals of the mid-1800s (Union Grounds in Brooklyn was a "saloon in the open air"), to the much mourned parks of the early 1900s (Detroit's Tiger Stadium, Cincinnati's Palace of the Fans), to the stadiums we fill today, Paul Goldberger makes clear the inextricable bond between the American city and America's favorite pastime. In the changing locations and architecture of our ballparks, Goldberger reveals the manifestations of a changing society: the earliest ballparks evoked the Victorian age in their accommodations--bleachers for the riffraff, grandstands for the middle-class; the "concrete donuts" of the 1950s and '60s made plain television's grip on the public's attention; and more recent ballparks, like Baltimore's Camden Yards, signal a new way forward for stadium design and for baseball's role in urban development. Throughout, Goldberger shows us the way in which baseball's history is concurrent with our cultural history: the rise of urban parks and public transportation; the development of new building materials and engineering and design skills. And how the site details and the requirements of the game--the diamond, the outfields, the walls, the grandstands--shaped our most beloved ballparks. A fascinating, exuberant ode to the Edens at the heart of our cities--where dreams are as limitless as the outfields.

Ballparks

Ballparks
Author: Eric Enders
Publisher: Chartwell Books
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2018-10-16
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 076036530X

If you love baseball and the venerable stadiums its played in, you need this definitive history and guide to Major League ballparks of the past, present, and future. With a tear-out checklist to mark ballparks you’ve visited and those on your bucket list, Ballparks takes you inside the histories of every park in the Major Leagues, with hundreds of photos, stories, and stats about: Storied parks like Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and Dodger Stadium Fan favorites AT&T Park, Camden Yards, PNC Park, Safeco Field, and so much more Forgotten treasures like Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, and all five parks of the Detroit Tigers New stadiums like the Atlanta Braves’ SunTrust Park, the Minneapolis Twins’ Target Field, and New York’s Yankee Stadium and Citifield More than 40 other major league parks that tell the story of the national pastime through the lens of the fields the players call home No baseball fan's collection is complete without this up-to-date tome.

Ballparks

Ballparks
Author: Jim Sutton
Publisher: Chartwell Books
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2017-09-19
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 078583575X

A panoramic view of MLB's current and most storied ballparks, from the oldest--1912's Fenway Park in Boston--to the newest, SunTrust Park, which opened a century later in 2017.

Fenway Park

Fenway Park
Author: John Powers
Publisher: Running Press Adult
Total Pages: 510
Release: 2012-03-06
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0762444908

Fenway Park. The name evokes a team and a sport that have become more synonymous with a city's identity than any stadium or arena in the country. Since opening in the same week of 1912 that the Titanic sank, the park's instantly recognizable confines have seen some of the most dramatic happenings in baseball history, including Carlton Fisk's "Is it fair?" home run in the 1975 World Series and Ted Williams's perfectly scripted long ball in his final at-bat. For 100 years, the Fenway faithful have been tested. They have known triumph and heartbreak, miracles and curses -- well, one curse in particular -- to such a degree that an entire nation of fans heaved a collective sigh of relief when Dave Roberts stole a base by a fingertip in 2004, triggering the most amazing comeback in the game's annals. To sit and watch a game at Fenway is to recognize that the pitcher is standing on the same mound where Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, and Babe Ruth pitched, that a hitter is in the same batter's box where Ty Cobb and Hank Aaron and Shoeless Joe Jackson dug in to take their swings. This is a ballpark that has embraced its odd construction quirks, including the bizarre triangle out in center field and the Green Monster that looms above the left fielder, and today -- for better and for worse -- it remains largely unchanged from the day it opened. In its long history, Fenway has hosted football, hockey, soccer, boxing, and so much more. It has provided a backdrop to hundreds of historic events having nothing to do with sports, including concerts, religious gatherings, and political rallies. It was the site of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's final campaign address, as well as visits by music luminaries from Stevie Wonder to Bruce Springsteen to the Rolling Stones. Through it all, the Boston Globe has been the consistent, respected chronicler of every important moment in park history. In fact, the newspaper played a remarkable role in Fenway's creation and evolution: the Taylor family -- founders and longtime owners of the Globe -- owned the ballclub in 1912, helped finance the new stadium, and renamed the team the "Red Sox". It is the Globe's insider perspective, combined with more than a century of exemplary journalism, that makes this book the definitive narrative history of both park and team, and a centennial collectors' item unlike any other. Its pages offer a level of detail that is unmatched, with exceptional writing and hundreds of rarely seen photographs and illustrations. This is Fenway Park, the complete story, unfiltered and expertly told.

Ballparks Then and Now

Ballparks Then and Now
Author: Eric Enders
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2019-07-02
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1911595954

Ballparks Then and Now is a fascinating exploration of ballparks across America. Packed with archival and modern photography, this book documents the development of America's national pastime by looking at the fields of dreams on which it is played. The ballpark experience has changed dramatically from baseball's early days on grassy lots with wooden grandstands and free admission. The Union Grounds in Brooklyn, New York, is considered by many to be the first ballpark ever built, when William Cammeyer converted the Union Skating Pond in 1862. Ballparks Then and Now traces the evolution of stadiums used by all the MLB teams today. Organized alphabetically they range from Anaheim and Atlanta to Toronto and Washington. Ballparks grew in size and grandeur from wooden bleachers and stands that often perished in ferocious fires (Boston, Cincinnati) to the concrete cookie-cutter ballparks of the 1960s and 1970s (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh). These multi-sport stadiums have now been replaced by modern retro designs (Yankees, Mets) that give each park its own unique feel. Batting far into the 9th are the carefully updated historic ballparks (Redsox, Cubs) nested in the heart of their communities.

Historic Ball Parks

Historic Ball Parks
Author: John Pastier
Publisher: Chartwell Books
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2006
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9780785820734

Enjoy this sequel to the best-selling ballparks, with this book taking a look at stadiums of the past.

Lost Ballparks

Lost Ballparks
Author: Lawrence S. Ritter
Publisher: Penguin Putnam
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1994
Genre: Baseball fields
ISBN: 9780140234220

The Polo Ground, Ebbets Field, Comiskey Park--the great temples of baseball are being razed to the ground. Now the author of The Glory of Their Times has brought 22 of these grand old open-air, wood-and-concrete stadiums back to life in a beautiful, big-hearted book filled with over 250 vintage photos of parks, players, games, and fans.