It was April when we set out on our quest to see a game in all 30 Major League ballparks in 30 days. We had one rule for the Trip: we had to drive the whole way - no planes, no trains - just us and our van on the open road. Was it possible? Could we do it? This journal is our day-by-day account of life on the road during the 18,000 mile road trip adventure across America.
A pair of friends from Harvard embark on a road trip to see 30 baseball games in 30 different stadiums over 30 days and describe their misadventures in this book about sports fans, loyalty, hot dogs and friendship.
The most entertaining and comprehensive guide to every baseball fan’s dream road trip—including every new ballpark since the 2004 edition—revised and completely updated!
Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore opened in 1992 as an intentional antidote to the modern multiuse athletic stadium. Home to only one sport and featuring accents of classic parks of previous generations. Oriole Park attempted to reconstitute Baltimore's past while serving as a cornerstone of downtown redevelopment. Since the gates opened at Camden yards, more than a dozen other American cities have constructed "new old" major league parks - Cleveland, Detroit, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Denver, Phoenix, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Houston, Arlington, Texas, and San Diego. In Retro Ball Parks, Daniel Rosenweig explores the cultural and economic role of retro baseball parks and traces the cultural implications of re-creating the old in new urban spaces. According to Rosenweig, the new urban landscape around these retro stadiums often presents a more homogenous culture than the one the new park replaced. Indeed, whole sections of cities have razed in order to build stadiums that cater to clientele eager to enjoy a nostalgic urban experience. This mandate to draw suburban residents and tourists to the heart of downtown, combined with the accompanying gentrification of these newly redeveloped areas, has fundamentally altered historic urban centers. Focusing on Cleveland's Jacobs Field as a case study, Rosenweig explores the political economy surrounding the construction of downtown ball parks, which have emerged as key components of urban entertainment-based development. Blending economic and cultural analysis, he considers the intersection of race and class in these new venues. For example, he shows that African American consumers in the commercial district around Jacobs Field have largely been replaced by symbolic representations of African American culture, such as piped-in rap music and Jackie Robinson replica jerseys. He concludes that the question of authenticity, the question of what it means to simultaneously commemorate and commodify the past in retro ball parks, mirrors larger cultural issues regarding the nature and implications of urban redevelopment and gentrification. Daniel Rosensweig is a professor in the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies Program at the University of Virginia
Extensive guide to all 30 big-league ballparks detailing the best and worst seats in the park, inside scoop on concessions, where to stay, and how to make the most out of your baseball experience.
Philadelphia's rich baseball heritage as seen through its baseball parks is vividly brought to life in this colorful and anecdotal book. Experienced sportswriter Rich Westcott once again dives into a labor of love, taking us back in time to an era when Philadelphia's ballparks were as famous and as much a part of the game as the teams that took the field. Philadelphia's baseball history goes beyond Shibe Park. Philadelphia's Old Ballparksis both a documentary and an oral history, providing detailed descriptions of all of the old professional parks and the many teams that played in them, including Baker Bowl, with its right field wall so close to home plate, it prompted sportswriter Red Smith to quip, "It might be exaggerating to say the outfield wall casts a shadow across the infield. But if the right fielder had eaten onions at lunch, the second baseman knew it." Shibe Park is also well-documented with its idiosyncracies, as are the others. The recollections of dozens of people--players, owners, vendors, ushers, grounds keepers, and fans combine to recreate the world that was held within those walls. Author note: Rich Westcotthas served as a writer and editor on the staffs of a variety of newspapers and magazines in the Philadelphia and Baltimore areas during his 35 years in publishing. He is the publisher and editor of Phillies Report.He is the author of six books, including The New Phillies Encyclopedia(Temple), with Frank Bilovsky; Phillies '93, An Incredible Season(Temple); Diamond Greats;and Masters of the Diamond.
"THE FASTEST 30 BALLGAMES" is a World Record journey of dedicated 'Ballpark Chaser', Chuck Booth. In the summer of 2009, Booth accomplished this amazing feat of attending a full baseball game at every Major League Baseball home team's ballpark in only 24 calendar days. Booth managed this after falling just short of the record in 2008. The book chronicles the story of Booth as he rearranged his life to attempt the World Record after hearing the inspirational story of Jim Maclaren who faced two near death experiences--and how Jim overcame being a quadriplegic to become one of the most respected motivational speakers in America. The story features write-ups of all ballparks Booth visited during the streak with a look at traditions and physical appearance. It also reveals how after he became a member of Ballpark Chasers, he decided to include Chaser Guides that offer suggestions on how to travel, where to eat and sleep, the best parking, transportation to and from the ballpark, where to score the best seats and so much more. This knowledge is passed on to the reader in hopes of saving them time, money and stress when Ballpark Chasing around the country. Co-authors are fellow Ballpark Chasers: Craig B. Landgren and Ken Lee. Craig assisted with the Ballpark Chaser Guides while Ken charted Booth's record attempt in 2009. Throughout the book look for other featured 'Ballpark Chasers' personal ballpark stories and memories that have forever changed their lives.
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.
When we think of baseball, we think of sunny days and leisurely outings at the ballpark--rarely do thoughts of death come to mind. Yet during the game's history, hundreds of players, coaches and spectators have died while playing or watching the National Pastime. In its second edition, this ground-breaking study provides the known details for 150 years of game-related deaths, identifies contributing factors and discusses resulting changes to game rules, protective equipment, crowd control and stadium structures and grounds. Topics covered include pitched and batted-ball fatalities, weather and field condition accidents, structural failures, fatalities from violent or risky behavior and deaths from natural causes.
