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.
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.
“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
“Offers a concise history of major-league ballparks, from the
earliest wooden structures to the present . . . Flip to the
sections on your favorite parks and you’ll find surprising tidbits
on nearly every page, [but] the book also mounts a sustained
argument across its pages, which makes reading it end to end
equally rewarding . . . Lushly illustrated.” —John Swansburg, The
New York Times Book Review
“Both a beautifully illustrated history of North American baseball
stadiums and a defense of the simple but enduring idea of a
ballpark that fits neatly into the hum and hive of a grid of city
streets . . . Goldberger has an easy way with his descriptions, and
his analyses of various ballparks are done with clarity and wit.
The book is studded with insightful observations.” —Michael
Lindgren, The Washington Post
"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
“[An] entertaining, insightful account of the places that house the
national pastime . . . One of the most engaging books to be written
on either cities or baseball in the past decade . . . The emotional
resonance of Ballpark is a testament to Goldberger’s
thoughtfulness.” —Josh Stephens, Planetizen
“Excellent . . . thought-provoking . . . [with] sumptuous photos
and illustrations.” —Whitney Terrell, Literary Hub
“Highly informed and interesting . . . An invaluable book, with
delicious stories and insights into both baseball and urban
studies. —Richard Horwich, The East Hampton Star
“For all of the writing about baseball, no one before has
accomplished what the brilliant architecture critic Paul Goldberger
does in Ballpark. In illuminating detail, he shows how the places
where the game is played say as much about the sport and the
changing American aesthetic as wins and losses and managers and
owners and players.” —David Maraniss, Pulitzer prize–winning author
of Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero
“A well-illustrated and eminently readable history of this uniquely
American structure . . . Enthusiasts of baseball, architecture, and
urban history will all relish this fine book.” —Andrew Shea, The
New Criterion
“An engrossing read . . . A work of architectural history and
criticism [that] can also be read as a history of baseball or of
America and its cities.” —Martin Pengelly, The Guardian
“Cheerfully approachable . . . [A] scorecard, you might say, of the
stadiums, a record of their hits and errors . . . Many of the old
ballparks receive their due here . . . [Goldberger] clearly loves
the game. But the ballpark, he says, also reflects America’s
history and culture, its demographic patterns.” —David M. Shribman,
The Wall Street Journal
“An in-depth peek into the history of the stadiums that we have
come to know and love. From the first park to the modern stadiums
that we enjoy now, Paul Goldberger does and amazing job of
collecting and organizing the history of these stadiums in a
beautiful way.” —Danielle McManus, San Francisco Book
Review
“Unlike any book ever written, Ballpark captures the romance,
the history, the architectural wonder, the neighborhoods, and the
pure, unadulterated love of baseball that make up America’s major
league baseball stadiums, both past and present.” —Jerry Milani, NY
Sports Day
“A fascinating read for baseball fans, architecture enthusiasts,
and anyone with a taste for American history (or hot dogs).” —Town
& Country
“Goldberger draws an irrefutable link between the evolution of
baseball park design and America’s shifting attitudes towards
architecture and urbanism [and] expertly traces the architectural
history of the American ballpark and its relationship to the
pastoral imagination . . . With Ballpark, Goldberger
succeeds in assuring its reader that the building type is as worthy
of design scholarship as any other.” —Shane Reiner-Roth,
Archinect
“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"
“A deep-dive that explores how, with the ‘tension between the
natural and the man-made,’ the game’s stadiums evoke the American
city and reflect our relationship to our urban setting . . .
Goldberger surveys a litany of parks . . . [Ballpark] effects
renewed appreciation for an institution that, year after year,
commands our rapt attention.” —Stephen Ostrowski, Modern Luxury
“An excellent book . . . Very well written and amply illustrated .
. . I recommend the book very highly for any baseball fan.”
—Richard Weigel, Bowling Green Daily News
“Goldberger’s approach is fresh and intelligent . . . Readers
should expect to dig into Ballpark ready to think.”
—Jerry Milani, Sports Media Report
“Watching how Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium have evolved through
these times makes far more sense, thanks to Goldberger’s set of
intellectual blueprints.” —Tom Hoffarth, Farther Off the Wall
“Attractive . . . Probing . . . Goldberger recognizes the baseball
park’s singular power to harmonize the nostalgic rural symbolism of
green outfields with the urban dynamism of the surrounding modern
city . . . For him, Boston’s reverence-inspiring park—together with
Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field and Chicago’s Wrigley Field—will forever
define a golden era in the construction of American ballparks. But
that shines as just one luminous chapter is this amply illustrated
history, stretching from the nineteenth-century Union Grounds, on
what had been a Brooklyn skating pond, to twenty-first century
Oakland Ballpark, with plans for a landscaped roof when completed
in 2023.” —Bryce Christensen, Booklist (starred
review)
“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)
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