Take Me Out To The Ballpark An Illustrated Tour of Baseball Parks Past & Present

Take Me Out to the Ballpark is a wonderful tour through every park in the Major League, alongside dozens more stadiums from the minor leagues, negro leagues and baseball's past. Packed with hundreds of photographs and loaded with facts, stories and statistics, it's the ultimate resource for diehards and casual fans alike.

Virtually every stadium that has ever hosted a professional game is here and brought to life through detailed retelling of its history and construction, stories of the famous players who called it home, and accounts of the incredible events that have taken place on the field. Discussions of the peculiar variations among each ballpark's playing field - a trait unique to baseball among professional sports - examine what makes each park different and demonstrate how sometimes even the slightest variation can have a monumental effect on a game's outcome.

- Every stadium is displayed in huge full-color photographs and illustrations - over 250 in all - including every current Major League stadium, important minor league parks, famous negro league fields and notable stadiums from baseball's past.

- Each feature is crammed with the statistics baseball fans love - who got the park's first hit, total cost of construction, what date saw the biggest crowd, numbers of balls that have make it over the fences, and much more.

- Legends of all the famous athletes and their spectacular achievements, along with fun stories of unusual incidents and incredible occurrences, uncover the singular "personality" that makes each park unique.

- Special sections explore all the things that make a trip to the ballpark a one-of-a-kind experience, from hot dogs to Cracker Jacks, announcers to organists, scoreboards to mascots.

Covers every current major league park, including:

Shea Stadium - Fenway Park - Wrigley Field - Dodger Stadium - Oriole Park at Camden Yards - Yankee Stadium - Coors Field - The Skydome - The Ballpark in Arlington - Busch Stadium - Jacobs Field - and many more!

Historical features on bygone classics from baseball's past:

Ebbets Field - The Polo Grounds - Tiger Stadium - Comisky Park - The Astrodome - Forbes Field - League Parks, food at the park, the evolution of night baseball, and much, much more!

Plus region-by-region examinations of minor league parks and fields from the negro leagues, and fun features on the history of ballparks, food at the park, the evolution of night baseball, and much, much more!

This stadium-shaped volume celebrates past and present ballparks with over 250 color illustrations and detailed descriptions that bring to life the legends, lore, and excitement of America's favorite pastime. Fascinating stories about teams, statistics, and profiles of the greatest players are presented in colorful sidebars and boxes.

This dazzling, full color, stadium-shaped book is the ultimate tribute to the hallowed homes of baseball past and present, vividly bringing to life the facts,

legends, lore and excitement of America's favorite sport. Every current major league ballpark, fields under construction, famous stadiums from baseball's past and the most interesting minor and Negro league parks are presented in huge full-color photographs and illustrations-over 250 in all. The captivating detailed text reveals the thrill of being in them-from bygone classics like the Polo Grounds, Ebbetts Field and Comisky Park to current favorites like Fenway, Camden Yards and Dodger Stadium. Fascinating stories about teams new and old and unforgettable moments, vital statistics and profiles of the greatest players-presented in colorful sidebars and boxes-highlight the distinguishing stories and characteristics of each ballpark. Fun features on food at the ballpark, famous announcers, mascots and more tell all the inside stories behind the stadiums.

Featuring hundreds of full-color photographs and illustrations of every Major League ballpark, famous stadiums from the past, and dozens of Minor and Negro league parks, Take Me Out to the Ballpark has surely earned its place as one of the most beloved baseball books. New stadiums in this completely revised and updated edition include Citizens Bank Ballpark (Philadelphia), PETCO Park (San Diego), and the newly renovated RFK Stadium (Washington, D.C.) home to the Washington Nationals.

Crammed with the statistics baseball fans love, Take Me Out to the Ballpark will hit a home run with legions of new readers this fall.

Josh Leventhal is an editor and the author of the best-selling book Take Me Out to the Ballpark, The World Series: An Illustrated History of the Fall Classic, and Baseball Yesterday & Today, among others. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Introduction (8)

Fenway Park (16)

Braves Field (20)

Root, Root, Root for the Home Team (21)

Leading the Cheers: Organists, PA Announcers and Mascots (22)

Baseball in the Big Apple (24)

Yankee Stadium (25)

Shea Stadium (28)

Polo Grounds (30)

Ebbets Field (32)

Veterans Stadium (34)

Baker Bowl (35)

Shibe Park (36)

Oriole Park at Camden Yards (38)

Memorial Stadium (40)

What's in a Name? (41)

Minor League Ballparks of the Northeast (42)

Griffith Stadium (44)

Olympic Stadium (46)

SkyDome (48)

Three Rivers Stadium (50)

Forbes Field (52)

Negro Leagues in the East (54)

Jacobs Field (56)

League Park (58)

Cleveland Stadium (59)

Crosley Field (60)

Let There Be Lights! The Development of Night Baseball (62)

Cinergy Field (63)

Tiger Stadium (64)

Comerica Park (67)

Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jacks: Foods at the Ballpark (68)

Milwaukee County Stadium (70)

Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (72)

Minor League Ballparks of the Midwest (74)

Wrigley Field (76)

Comiskey Park II (79)

Midwest Ballparks of the Past (82)

Busch Stadium (83)

Sportsman's Park (84)

Kauffman Stadium (87)

Negro Leagues in the Midwest (88)

Turner Field (95)

Launching Pads and Homer Domes (91)

Minor League Ballparks of the South (92)

Pro Player Stadium (94)

Tropicana Field (95)

Negro Leagues in the South (96)

Astrodome (98)

Enron Field (100)

Minor League Ballparks of Texas (101)

The Ballpark in Arlington (102)

On the Boards: Scoreboards and Billboards (104)

Coors Field (106)

Bank One Ballpark (108)

Qualcomm Stadium (109)

Edison International Field (110)

Dodger Stadium (112)

Pacific Bell Park (115)

Candlestick Park (116)

Fields of Green: The Groundskeepers (118)

Network Associates Coliseum (120)

SAFECO Field (122)

Minor League Ballparks of the West (124)

Chronology of Major League Ballparks: 1871-2000 (126)

References and Illustration Credits (128)