From Publishers Weekly
Packed with over 200 photographs, this companion to the upcoming national tour of pieces from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum celebrates the sport from its mythical 19th-century beginnings to the 2001 retirement of modern icons Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken. Familiar images abound (Ty Cobb's slide into third base, children playing sandlot ball, etc.), but the central focus is on artifacts: uniforms, scorecards and boxes of Wheaties, the bats used in record-breaking home runs and the handwritten manuscript of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." FDR's letter urging the resumption of games after Pearl Harbor and a baseball found in the World Trade Center debris poignantly underscore America's consistent salute to and dependence upon its national pastime. But while functioning much like a museum, itself, the volume is more than simply an exhibition catalogue. Essays and stories some newly written for this collection feature dozens of writers, players and personalities from Walt Whitman to Dave Barry, Jackie Robinson to Paul Simon, and examine the game's cultural and historical significance. Readers won't find here an in-depth exploration as in Geoffrey Ward/ Ken Burns's Baseball: An Illustrated History, but the range of topics is exhaustive. The less glamorous aspects of baseball's history such as segregation and the cancellation of the 1994 World Series are given equal playing time alongside the worship of diamond deities and the celebration of the game's historical moments. This entertaining presentation, divided into groupings on baseball as ritual, freedom, opportunity and innovation, is a must for anyone who proudly echoes Tom Brokaw's sentiment as he writes "remember the final two words in our national anthem: `play ball!' " (Mar.)Forecast: Due to appear on shelves in time for baseball season, this PBS companion will sell hugely.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


Book Description

In the spring of 2002, the National Baseball Hall of Fame will launch a landmark four-year traveling exhibition that will premier at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and tour to leading museums in nine major cities across the United States. The show will bring the Hall of Fame’s treasures, including rare baseball images and artifacts, to every American in a once-in-a-lifetime celebration of the game that has defined our nation.

National Geographic is proud to offer the official companion book to this groundbreaking event. Featuring more than 30 essays by writers, players, scholars, and fans, including John Grisham, Tom Brokaw, Dave Barry, Roger Kahn, Paul Simon, George Plimpton, Penny Marshall, and others, Baseball As America will explore every rich facet of the national pastime. In examining such formative phenomena as immigration, industrialization, popular culture, and technology, it will reveal how baseball has served as both a public reflection of and a catalyst for the evolution of American culture and society. Baseball As America will also examine how the American landscape, our language, literature, entertainment, food, and summertime living all bear the mark of a 19th-century game that has become inextricably intertwined with our nation¼s values and aspirations.

A handsome, hardbound volume, Baseball As America also features more than 200 original and archival photographs that bring the game to life on its pages. Perfect for every baseball fan, indeed every American, Baseball As America is a comprehensive panorama of the game America has grown up with. It will foster a new appreciation not only for the game, but also for the very character of our nation.

FROM OUR EDITORS

This beautiful book chronicles the history of America's pastime through evocative essays from writers and notables such as John Grisham, Walt Whitman, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, along with wonderful photographs and memorabilia from the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The companion volume to the Hall of Fame's traveling exhibit, Baseball As America examines the depth of America's love for the sport. The illustrations, including breathtaking archival photographs are superb. Baseball as America lacks only a hot dog, a catcher￯﾿ﾽs mitt, and the cry of "Play ball!"

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A celebration of America's romance with baseball, this is the official companion volume to the National Baseball Hall of Fame's unprecedented national traveling exhibition.

In the spring of 2002, the National Baseball Hall of Fame will launch a landmark four-year traveling exhibition that will premier at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and tour to leading museums in nine major cities across the United States. The show will bring the Hall of Fame's treasures, including rare baseball images and artifacts, to every American in a once-in-a-lifetime celebration of the game that has defined our nation.

National Geographic is proud to offer the official companion book to this groundbreaking event. Featuring more than 30 essays by writers, players, scholars, and fans, including John Grisham, Tom Brokaw, Dave Barry, Roger Kahn, George Plimpton, Penny Marshall, and others, Baseball as America will explore every rich facet of the national pastime. In examining such formative phenomena as immigration, industrialization, popular culture, and technology, it will reveal how baseball has served as both a public reflection of and catalyst for the evolution of American culture and society. Baseball as America will also examine how the American landscape, our language, literature, entertainment, food, and summertime living all bear the mark of a 19th-century game that has become inextricably intertwined with our nation's values and aspirations.

A handsome, hardbound volume, Baseball as America also features more than 200 original and archival photographs that bring the game to life on its pages. Perfect for every baseball fan, indeed every American, Baseball as America is a comprehensive panorama of the game America has grown up with. It will foster a new appreciation not only for the game, but also for the very character of our nation.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly