Baseball in the American City

Baseball, Ballparks, and the American City

Paul Goldberger

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Hardback

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English

Alfred A. Knopf
14 May 2019

Baseball

"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.

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."

By: Paul Goldberger
Imprint: Alfred A. Knopf
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 232mm, Width: 178mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 950g
ISBN: 9780307701541
ISBN 10: 0307701549
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 14 May 2019
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

PAUL GOLDBERGER, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, began his career at The New York Times, where he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism for his writing on architecture. Later, and for fifteen years, he was architecture critic for The New Yorker. He is the author of many books, most recently Building Art- The Life and Work of Frank Gehry and Why Architecture Matters. He teaches at the New School and lectures widely around the country on architecture, design, historic preservation, and cities. He and his wife live in New York City.

Reviews for Baseball in the American City: Baseball, Ballparks, and the American City

I read this entire book! Baseball inspires a religious devotion for me and its many followers. This book by Paul Goldberger gives incredible new insights into the cathedrals at which we love to worship it. I am so grateful for it. Thank you, Paul. --Jerry Seinfeld As a Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic, Paul Goldberger brings scholarship and a discerning eye to these pages. He also brings a thoughtful fan's appreciation of baseball's unique appeal and romance. Qualities which are enhanced, or diminished, by ballpark design. --Bob Costas There has never been a book on a sports subject that approaches a subject through the historical designs of its playing fields or, surely, does it as well. Through his architectural expertise and with compelling writing skills, Paul Goldberger in Ballpark: Baseball in the American City takes the reader into arenas that embrace unique and pleasurable insights of what is commonly referred to as our national pastime. --Ira Berkow A tour de force that will appeal to devoted baseball fans, architecture devotees, and even casual readers . . . [Goldberger] discusses the evolving designs in terms of the quality of the viewing experience for fans, and he evaluates how each stadium shapes the city around it--and is simultaneously shaped by the characteristics of that particular city . . .The detail of the research, both its breadth and depth, is remarkable. . . . Includes more than 150 illuminating photos scattered throughout the text. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) The still evolving story of the park in the city is one that Paul Goldberger tells brilliantly in Ballpark, a book about architecture and engineering and history, certainly, but profoundly about the soul of the game and our imperiled sense of community. --John Thorn, Official Historian, Major League Baseball If you love anything about baseball, architecture or the history of modern American cities--just pick one of the three!--you will love Ballpark. Paul Goldberger's passion for how architecture is an integral part of our everyday lives, along with his elegant writing, makes this book an enchanting tour through time and space, and urban aspirations. I doubt I will ever again sit in a ballpark, or any stadium, without thinking of this book. --Douglas Alden, sports historian and author of ESPN's The Diary of Myles Thomas