At Home Plate

Book Review: Ballparks - Then and Now

Ballparks - then and now.
By Eric Enders
List price $20.00
Thunder Bay Press

Ballparks then and now is a terrific coffee table book that gives a wonderful overview of the game of baseball and the ballparks in which it has been played over the last 13 decades. It's definitely not wrong to compare ballparks with cathedrals as both are structures built on a grand scale meant to hold lots of people who come in to watch a big show and show their reverence. The difference is that baseball outdraws all religious services in the country by a margin estimated to be a minimum of 4:1.

In that way the book is a religious experience, giving the reader a glance into baseball’s past and the experience which those before us have had watching baseball.

The book takes us city by city through all the cities that today hold major league teams. In each city the author talks about the major ballparks that have gone before and tries to guide us through the history of their teams via their ballparks. Many of the parks in the book were home not to Major League baseball teams, but to teams from the American Association, Negro leagues, minor leagues, or other leagues that have gone before.

However the book is not a definitive guide, so much as it is a survey of the parks which major league cities have called the “Home” field over the generations. Many of the pictures are of the parks themselves but several are just stunning moments of baseball history, some of my favorites included Josh Gibson of the Homestead Grays trotting home, the Pittsburgh Crawfords, Yogi Berra and Roy Campanella in the 1953 World Series, a play at home from the Negro League 1939 East - West Game (the Negro League equivalence of the All-Star Game).

Many of the ballpark photos make you wish you had seen what appeared to be some beautiful parks of yore. Just the pictures of some of the old parks including the Grand Pavilion in Boston, Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, Cincinnati’s Palace of the fans, make you realize just how much has been lost over the years.

Many of these parks were forerunners not just of the modern parks but of some of the modern gimmicks which today’s ballparks have - including pools out in the outfield, roller coasters, beer gardens and more. Not many of the grand old parks have survived, many were made of wood and burned long ago, still others were demolished as outdated, or just because the team owners wanted a more modern park.

This book makes you wish you could step back in time, at least for a day and see some of these great parks. In truth this is a wonderful book, which any baseball fan can appreciate who can appreciate a great ballpark will enjoy.

Give it a 3 of 4 balls, and call it one you’d be glad to keep out for your friends to flip though.

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Our Rating System is based on a four ball system as follows:
One Ball: Average. It has something to say but is nothing special.
Two Balls: Something men usually have - also means its a cut above average, and worth reading/owning.
Three balls: Stands out from its peers and is highly recommended.
Four Balls: More than just what two men have when hanging out together, it means it is an exceptional book that truly earns a walk - straight to the local book store to get a copy.

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