Research Catalog

Title

Ballpark : baseball in the American city / Paul Goldberger.

Author

Goldberger, Paul

Publication

• New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2019.
• ©2019

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiii, 364 pages : illustrations (some color); 24 cm

Summary

"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"--

Subjects

• Baseball
• Baseball fields > Social aspects > United States
• Baseball fields > United States > History
• Baseball fields > Design and construction
• Sports writing
• United States
• Baseball > United States > History
• History
• Baseball fields > United States > Design and construction > History

Genre/Form

• Sports writing.
• History.

Note

• "A Borzoi book."

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages [339]-343) and index.

Contents

Brooklyn beginnings -- Amusement versus virtue -- From wood to steel and stone -- The golden age -- Aspiring to monumentality -- Leaving the city -- Era of concrete doughnuts -- Camden Yards: baseball returns -- After Baltimore: looking back or looking forward? -- Lessons forgotten, lessons learned -- New York retro, Miami modern -- The ballpark as theme park.

Call Number

JFE 19-8866

ISBN

• 9780307701541
• 0307701549

LCCN

• 2018046223
• 40029230688

OCLC

1055570017

Author

Goldberger, Paul, author.

Title

Ballpark : baseball in the American city / Paul Goldberger.

Publisher

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2019.

Copyright Date

©2019

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages [339]-343) and index.

Other Form:

Online version: Goldberger, Paul, author. Ballpark First edition. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2019 9780525656241 (DLC) 2018046867

Other Standard Identifier

40029230688

Research Call Number

JFE 19-8866