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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
bflat809's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating trip through time on the evolution of baseball park architecture, and its changing relationship to the surrounding urban environment. My appreciation colored somewhat by the fact that Goldberger seems to love Camden Yards as much as I do. Also influencing my opinion is the random factoid that the story of the "modern" ballpark has origins heavily rooted in the development of Sportsman's Park in St. Louis where I attended my first major league game back in 1965 (for the record the result was LA Dodgers over the Cardinals 1-0 on a complete game by Sandy Koufax--https://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=196509180SLN). I also learned a bit more about the role that Eli Jacobs played in making Camden Yards the gem that it is. I'll have to go read more about that. Almost makes me want to overlook a bit the fact that Jacobs pretty much destroyed the O's farm system during his brief tenure as owner.
mstanger's review against another edition
3.0
I had high expectations for the book but feel rather disappointed. It would be a terrific introduction to the topic for architects and fans who haven’t read many of the referenced books. The one historical perspective I learned was about Chris Von der Ahe and his St Louis ballparks. Other than that, only a few tidbits were new for me. I’m a planner, not an architect, so I’d hoped to learn more about design. Other than brief mentions of materials (usually exteriors of the newest parks) and upper deck angles, not much here to chew on. Too much repetition, as if the author expected readers to randomly select chapters to read instead of finding a narrative arc, as I expected. The arc could have been Goldberg’s insight, which he presented early on, that ballparks represent a joining of the urban and rural/pastoral and that the relationship or quality of that joining has waxed and waned over time—and explained why along the way. Unfortunately, I think it’s not so easy to find that thread, as presented.
brandonpytel's review against another edition
5.0
What will undoubtedly make my top 10 list by year’s end, Ballpark is a perfect balance of lyricism and information, all complemented by a topic that I really enjoy. It is a book about “how the histories of baseball and the American city have been intertwined for more than a century and a half, and about how the architecture of the baseball park expresses their interdependence.”
How we have designed ballparks — which to Goldberger is a metaphorical symbol of the tension between the rural and the urban — are not simply houses for teams, but a reflection of our “attitudes toward cities and community, our notions of public space, and our charging views about the nature of place.”
Goldberger starts with baseball’s chaotic beginnings around New York, where most ballparks popped up in Brooklyn, shaped with eccentricities by their surroundings, including streetcars and public transit. We get off-centered fields, with imbalanced outfields, and hastily put together bleachers and grandstands, often separating classes and genders. We get the showmanship of the early ballparks, with gambling and beer gardens, and how those types of parks were at odds with the more buttoned-up leagues.
These things essentially just popped up where they could, usually near factories or industrial parts of town with the space for a ballpark, growing haphazardly with the cities they were built in. Eventually these wooden structures were replaced by steel and brick ones that wouldn’t burn down. There was a certain monumentality to some of these parts, while serving the business purpose of attracting fans and accommodating them.
All throughout the book, Goldberger seamlessly weaves in the history of teams and leagues, as well as the expanding and dynamic nature of those leagues, with teams moving from town to town and building ballparks along the way. And we get close-ups of pretty much every current ballpark, as well as the older parks in the same cities.
Goldberger divides the history of ballparks in clean eras — from the Golden era with Comiskey and Fenway and Wrigley and Ebbets to the monumentality of Yankees Stadium to the concrete donuts planted firmly in the suburbs or surrounded by parking lots to the return to the city, with the building of Camden Yards, and eventually the ballpark as a themepark, like the Battery in Atlanta.
Along the way, we see the different shapes and sizes of each park, each fit with unique features, whether they’re bland concrete structures, or eccentric and sleek and swooping designs, or domed engineering marvels with retractable roofs. In each case, the ballpark reflects the city in some way, while serving as a practical home to baseball.
The book is beautifully summed up on its final page: “The greatest joy [the ballpark] can bring us is when it is embedded in the real city, with all the energy, diversity, and dynamism a city can display at its best, and the exhilaration the baseball park offers becomes not only a celebration of sport, but of the whole urban life.”
How we have designed ballparks — which to Goldberger is a metaphorical symbol of the tension between the rural and the urban — are not simply houses for teams, but a reflection of our “attitudes toward cities and community, our notions of public space, and our charging views about the nature of place.”
Goldberger starts with baseball’s chaotic beginnings around New York, where most ballparks popped up in Brooklyn, shaped with eccentricities by their surroundings, including streetcars and public transit. We get off-centered fields, with imbalanced outfields, and hastily put together bleachers and grandstands, often separating classes and genders. We get the showmanship of the early ballparks, with gambling and beer gardens, and how those types of parks were at odds with the more buttoned-up leagues.
These things essentially just popped up where they could, usually near factories or industrial parts of town with the space for a ballpark, growing haphazardly with the cities they were built in. Eventually these wooden structures were replaced by steel and brick ones that wouldn’t burn down. There was a certain monumentality to some of these parts, while serving the business purpose of attracting fans and accommodating them.
All throughout the book, Goldberger seamlessly weaves in the history of teams and leagues, as well as the expanding and dynamic nature of those leagues, with teams moving from town to town and building ballparks along the way. And we get close-ups of pretty much every current ballpark, as well as the older parks in the same cities.
Goldberger divides the history of ballparks in clean eras — from the Golden era with Comiskey and Fenway and Wrigley and Ebbets to the monumentality of Yankees Stadium to the concrete donuts planted firmly in the suburbs or surrounded by parking lots to the return to the city, with the building of Camden Yards, and eventually the ballpark as a themepark, like the Battery in Atlanta.
Along the way, we see the different shapes and sizes of each park, each fit with unique features, whether they’re bland concrete structures, or eccentric and sleek and swooping designs, or domed engineering marvels with retractable roofs. In each case, the ballpark reflects the city in some way, while serving as a practical home to baseball.
The book is beautifully summed up on its final page: “The greatest joy [the ballpark] can bring us is when it is embedded in the real city, with all the energy, diversity, and dynamism a city can display at its best, and the exhilaration the baseball park offers becomes not only a celebration of sport, but of the whole urban life.”
webdoyenne's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book. If you are interested in baseball, urbanism, and/or architecture, you will find something to enjoy here. Lots of well-chosen photos to look at, and an extensive Notes section and index. I was going to pass this book along to my younger son when I was finished, but I found that I could not let it go, so I bought another copy to give to him.
docjh's review against another edition
4.0
Beautifully produced volume. Comprehensive architectural/urban history. Reviews of recent parks are superficial. Worthwhile.