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 Buy it for the pictures!Oct 06, 2008
First, you should know that this is an updated version of Historic Ballparks: A Panoramic Vision. That volume features almost twice the page size of this one, so the photos in the earlier edition are much larger. But many photos and some ballparks have been added to this version. The text is updated as well, correcting some of the errors from the earlier version, but also introducing some new ones.
Buy this just to enjoy the wonderful ballpark photography, and not for the information. For accurate details on the ballparks, check out Green Cathedrals: The Ultimate Celebration of All Major League Ballparks.
great bookJul 16, 2008
Great book, as an avid baseball fan, and a person who appreciates the grand old stadiums, this book has many wonderful photos. The book though is trying to cover more than just major league stadiums, however, I thought it should included all the minor league stadiums and not just a few from in the past too. Overall though, this book has many great photos and interesting articles. Definately recommend.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Pictures Great, Writing TerribleJan 16, 2008
The photos in this book are wonderful. Visually, it's a treat. I saw many photographs I've never seen before, both of some historic parks, as well as some interesting shots of today's modern parks.
That being said, however...
I sure hope the people who edited this book lost their jobs. I was shocked to see the number of very obvious spelling errors found within the pages of this. Aside from that, but there are just some very blatently wrong facts within the book.
This published in 2007. In the little 'stadium bio' for Comerica Park, under the listing of how many times the MLB All Star Game has been played in the stadium, it mentions that the game is SCHEDULED for 2005. Granted, I believe this book was first published prior to 2007, but if you're going to update and re-publish something, it sould be expected to go ahead and update something like that too.
If you're looking for a book that's nice to look at, go ahead and buy this. If you're looking for a book that's a good read, I might consider passing this one up.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 How Many Mistakes Are There?Dec 28, 2007
I received this book as a Christmas present (in 2007), as I am an avid baseball fan. And, since I grew up in St. Louis, the Cardinals have always been my team.
Naturally, I looked at the writeups of the St. Louis ballparks first and was extremely disappointed at what I read on page 400, which was, "During the 1960s, they (the St. Louis Cardinals)had three World Series teams -- 1964, 1967, and 1968, beating the Yankees, beating the Red Sox, and losing to the Twins in the three series."
Any Cardinal fan knows that the Cardinals lost to the Detroit Tigers in 1968, not the Twins. Major, major error.
Then the text continues, "They returned to the World Series three times in the 1980s, beating the Brewers in 1982, losing to the Royals in 1985, and losing to the Twins again in 1987." This statement is accurate except for the word "again" since the Cardinals did not lose to them in 1968.
Continuing on the same page is, "So popular and influential a figure was Musial that a statue in his honor was unveiled outside the Busch Stadium in 1968, three years before he entered the Hall of Fame." This statement implies that Musial was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971, when, in fact, he was inducted in 1969 (his first year of eligibility.)
Needless to say, after I found these errors on the same page after only reading about five pages in the book, I wonder just how many other errors there are throughout the book. And, I hope the above mentioned errors are corrected before any subsequent publishing.
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Amazing book about baseball stadiumsNov 25, 2007
"An outstanding illustrated presentation of all the current major league parks combined with a look at stadiums in the past, this book includes complete histories and fascinating anecdotes about each park."
For anyone who is heavily into baseball (or specifically interested in stadiums design), this is an absolute treasure of a book -- an impressive, profusely illustrated, exquisite tome of 448 glossy pages.
It contains a wealth of information about 42 best known baseball ballparks in the U.S., listed alphabetically by city name (starting with Albequergue, ending with Washington D.C.).
Additionally, the first 70 pages contain general information about the major leagues, history of baseball, what matters in ballpark design, recent trends, etc.
Published in England, this book is a "stunner", a real pleasure to hold in your hands. With breath-taking superb photographps on every page, it's "candy for the eyes", and accompnied by equally attractive and interesting written content.
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based on 5 reviews
