At Home Plate

Book Review: Joe Mock’s BallPark guide

Joe Mock’s BallPark guide
144 pages.
By Joe Mock


For those of you who don’t know, Joe Mock is the creator of www.ballparks.com and runs a site devoted to the art of the grand cathedrals where the game is played. In this first edition of his book, he focuses on the major league ballparks and produces a guide which every fan who takes in a game in a new ballpark should really peruse. It is an invaluable guide for anyone planning a baseball trip.

I waited until I visited my first new ballpark of the year, Veteran’s stadium (see the “last opening day at the Vet” for that story), to apply the book and see just how useful it really was. It was in fact a terrific guide which has a ton of information and will be used to plan a number of trips this summer to new ballparks.

The book is a very useful, especially since it answers a lot of important questions for every fan including the most important one. Just where the heck do I want to sit? - and that alone in my mind makes the book well worth its price if you visit two or more parks a year.

The book runs through 29 of the 30 parks in used in Major League Baseball this year. It does not cover the new Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati since it had not yet been built or opened to the public at the time of publication. It also does not have details on the new parks that will open next year.

However the parks it covers, it covers fairly well. Each park gets its own chapter organized alphabetically by the name of the team who plays there. The chapters each start with the memories of a fan who witnessed something that they thought special which occurred there - before moving into the meat of the chapter.

The meat in this case includes a lot of data including the location (and how to get there), history of the park including details on construction renovation and basic history of World Championships and the like that have been played there, and milestones that were achieved there. Then we reach the area where Joe shows us his knowledge. He tells us his likes and dislikes, favorite areas to sit (and often which areas to avoid), how and where to get tickets, and websites with further information. Lastly in each chapter he tells us what other Major and minor league teams are in the area (so if its a real baseball trip you can see more baseball) and then talks about where each team spends its spring training.

Another interesting feature is the “Betcha didn’t know” sidebar to each stadium’s information. It contains a tidbit of information about the stadium that even most of the diehard fans wouldn’t know (with a name like “Betcha Didn’t know”, go figure).

Following the stadium breakdowns are two rather interesting features, Joe’s guide to the 10 must see ballparks - which include a few parks most people have never heard of, and Joe’s dissertation about why we love and care about the ballfields and stadiums - how no two are alike.

The one thing that the guide doesn’t really touch on is the kind of nuance which many observers visiting a strange ballpark might not notice. Details like the timeline of Angels history on the wall of the Terrace level on the third base side at Edison Field, or that Seattle’s Safeco Field has the words “Umpires Room” written on the door in English and also in braille! (thanks to the folks at Baseball USA for pointing that out).

For that kind of detail a stadium tour is always the best way to go, though wandering about the park is a fun way to discover it too.

Give this guide 3 out of 4 balls, simply because it is the best ballpark guide I have seen to date. Whispers of a new edition for next year or 2005 are in the wind too.

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