Take Me Out to the Ballpark: An Illustrated Guide to Baseball Parks Past & Present

by Josh Leventhal

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.

Genres: Sports, Baseball, Nonfiction, Reference

128 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2000

Reviews

[Jacob Blanck]

It has a lot of information about every ballpark across America. It also has well-known facts and some great pictures of those stadium. All from Then & Now.

I recommend this book to anyone who is new to baseball.

[John Stinebaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though this is now several years out of date it was a great fun read.

[Aaron Sinner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Briefly: Exhaustive

Take Me Out to the Ballpark is exactly what you think it’s going to be: An exhaustive reference guide to Major League ballparks (and several others besides). There is definitely value in that, and skimming the book makes it easy to discover the way the ballpark has evolved over time—from simple ballparks of the past up to expanded, often uniquely asymmetrical parks, through cookie cutter stadiums, then winding into the “new retro” style of the present. Additionally, seeing ballparks side-by-side helps spell out why certain parks are considered triumphs while others leave something to be desired, or carried “new retro” to a cliché.

That said, Take Me Out to the Ballpark has clear shortcomings, as well. An encyclopedic history of ballparks is nice, but there’s only so much to be said about a ballpark itself. Leventhal sometimes has little to say about a park, at other times simply shares events that occurred at the park even if they aren’t tied directly to the ballpark itself. The book could be better served if it shifted its emphasis from textbook-like entries to an emphasis on ballpark photography supplemented by text, rather than text supplemented by imagery.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though 20 years old now (and therefore missing many modern ballparks) it is still a thoroughly researched compendium of major league (and some minor league and negro league) parks. Some great historic photos in the book. A bit hit and miss with respect to trivia and facts/figures. The shape of the book (it is shaped like a baseball diamond) is off putting and makes it look like a children's book, which it isn't.

[LAMONT D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though this keepsake book is over 25 years old, it still holds great value in the size, the quality of pictures and the historical narrative of baseball and its ballparks. Baseball is the great pastime of many, and when I saw this book at a book fair years ago, I thought it would make a wonderful addition to our library and help us remember what stadiums we have visited in our past. Plus, it gives me motivation to still make it to those yet to be visited.

[Jacob Huebner · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are into baseball and it’s rich history this book is for you. The author did a good job of writing this book because everything in the book is very appealing. This book literally talks about every baseball park every in the history of baseball and that’s wh I love it.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book for the die-hard baseball fan. I especially enjoyed the pictures of the old ballparks.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Stadium-shaped" coffee-table book of baseball stadiums, short on history, whose only fault is it isn't long enough, and doesn't have enough pictures and history of the old parks no longer in existence. Once thing this book puts in stark contrast is that just as the 70s were a bad time for car makers in contrast to a more glorious past, it was a bad time for stadium designers too.

The good news for both industries is that the good old days are now, as stadiums are better (not necessarily bigger, fancier, or high-tech, just better) in every dimension.

[Dick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Filled with photos and information on ball parks both past and present. If you have not been to a stadium, but would like to - this is a good introductory book for you to read and enjoy the photos as well.

[Zack · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been better if there were more details about all the staduims. Personally, I am not too interested in all the minor league park staduims, just the older and present stadiums. This book seems to be outdated too.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a large book that chronicles baseball parks and provides some history and photographs of each. It looks like a book that was purchased via Books Are Fun so I think Gert may have been the one who purchased this for me, but I am not certain.

It's a decent overview of baseball parks.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that my book was interesting as I didn't know about how many stats the different fields kept across all time and players.

[J.f. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful pictures, great stories, organized, good stats, fun to read. Offers terrific info on one the most overlooked aspects of professional baseball...the baseball stadium itself.

[John Velez · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an okay book this was given to me by one of the kids that I coached baseball in Lakewood, California a few years ago!

[Marshaferz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took this on our honeymoon too. Fantastically fun.

[Conner Klostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take me out the the Ballpark is informational book that talks about the many ballparks around our world. The specific ballparks present many informational pieces about themselves. I consider this book to be a great read for reluctant readers who are invested in learning more about baseball.