Book Review: Ballparks

Ballparks: A Journey Through the Fields of the Past, Present, and Future by Eric Enders

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This an oversized book. What I call "Coffee table" books. For that, it works quite well, it has a bunch of beautiful pictures, and even has a checklist in the back if you want to go to every stadium in the country. This type of book will be undoubtedly often given as a gift or (as in my case) received as a gift. It will lie around many houses, and people will undoubtedly peruse through their favorite team's stadium or perhaps the ones that they have visited.

I doubt many will be bought with the intention to read every single word inside. However, I did just that, and would suggest it to others.

This is a history of every ballpark Major League ball has played in. It reads as an interesting rarely-told history of the game. Enders has really researched this topic, and it shows in how much material he references. He does a great job of working in Negro League history, and features many photos from the 1920s through 1950s to go with it.

He also features some of the most important non-Major League ballparks in the country (Cooperstown, Williamsburg, Durham, Omaha, El Paso, Memphis and Dyersville, Iowa's "Field of Dreams" to name some) as well as briefly covering some International destinations of major league baseball.

It is interesting to see the trends - from the early wooden parks of the early days of the game to the ballparks of the 19-teens like Forbes Field, Fenway and Wrigley; later transitioning to the two-sport football/baseball stadium trend of the 1970s and now the "throwback baseball only" renaissance that started with Camden Yards in 1992.

It is a fascinating history, and of course, the recent stories touch on the funding aspect- ugly in the case of Texas - and architectural/fashion - the unfortunate timing of "New Comiskey" came before the trend set by firm HOK Sport, who has done some amazing things to revitalize the experience.

It's all there- the good, the bad, the ugly- the horrible Domes that came and went, the peculiarities of certain parks, the sights, sounds and fans that made "home field" unique. I guarantee you will learn something.

Also, even though I doubt it was designed to be read in one sitting, I was amazed that it never got repetitious. Enders worked hard at keeping it fresh- making it work if you did decide to straight through or if you did just skip to your favorite park.

This is a good suggestion for baseball fans, and really a novel approach to tell a different side of the history of the game.





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