National Baseball Hall of Fame - Picturing Americas Pastime: Historic Photography from the Baseball Hall of Fame Archives

Praise for Picturing America s Pastime

I am honored that a photo of me is included in this beautiful book. Page by page, Picturing Americas Pastime provides a glimpse into the history of the game I love, full of extraordinary images. From players on the field and fans in the stands to stars and lesser-known players from as far back as the history of the sport goesits all there in these pages. Theres no better way to celebrate the game than pouring through this one-of-a-kind collection from the Hall of Fames unequalled photo archive.

Rod Carew, National Baseball Hall of Fame Cla ss of 1991

I met a woman named Tess in Boston who was in her nineties and joyfully recalled sitting on a box near the first row at Fenway Park in The Babes time, and hed hand her ice cream, then walk to the batters box. In Picturing Americas Pastime , I recall her, as The Babe is pictured with a girl scout. This is the history to whom the Hall of Fame is dedicated, of the lines drawn from Oscar Charleston to Henry Aaron, Minnie Mioso to El Duque, our grandfathers to all of us, a reminder that baseball is the arboretum where stands our fami ly trees.

Peter Gammons, 2004 BBWAA Career Excellence Aw ard Winner

My favorite thing about the Hall of Fame is the way it brings baseball to life on any day of any year. And I got that same feeling as I turned the pages of Picturing Americas Pastime . You can pick literally any page and transport yourself back to another place, another time, to conjure up a memory, to look into the eyes of a forgotten legend or to imagine what it must have been like to watch someone like Warren Spahn pitch. What a beautiful, evocat ive book.

Jayson Stark, 2019 BBWAA Career Excellence Award Winner and senior baseball writer for Th e Athletic

The fabulous photographic assets of the Baseball Hall of Fame are on display gorgeously, if teasingly, in Picturing Americas Pastime . Only a visit to the Halls archives will confirm that there is, indeed, more. This dazzling book revives for me, and provides for the reader, the thrill of discovering the un expected.

John Thorn, Official Historian of Major Leagu e Baseball

Copyright 2021 by National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc.
Published by National Baseball Hall of Fame Books, a division of Mango Media Inc.

Cover Design: Elina Diaz
Cover Photo/illustration: National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Layout & Design: Elina Diaz

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Picturing Americas Pastime: Historic Photography from the Baseball Hall of Fame Archives

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication number: 2021933916
ISBN: (print) 978-1-64250-533-7, (ebook) 978-1-64250-534-4
BISAC category code: SPO003030, SPORTS & RECREATION / Baseball / History

Printed in the United States of America

This volume is dedicated to those who made it possible: the generous individuals who, for over eight decades, have donated baseball photographs to our institution, and the myriad men, women, and children who have taken (and thankfully continue to take) photographs picturing America s pastime.

Foreword

by Randy Johnson, National Baseball Hall of Fame Cla ss of 2015

W hen I was on the pitchers mound, especially later in my career, I always had a plan for how I would work to the hitter. As a starter, you know when youre going to pitch. You know the team youre facing. You know the lineup. And you have a preconceived idea about how each at-bat will play out. Then the game begins, and all that could change, depending upon whats going on. Thats when you get creative.

Ive been retired from baseball for a decade. But that planning, that opportunityand especially that creativityare still in play for me. Only now, its through ph otography.

My love of cameras and photos goes back to my high school days. I went to USC to play baseballbut also to study photojournalism. Once there, the doors started opening. I shot for The Daily Trojan at USC, giving me a bigger, broader canvas for pictures. Concerts, events, landscapesthey were all there in Los Angeles. It took me to the next level as a pho tographer.

Its a process, just like baseballjust like anything. You have to understand how to pitch before you can be successful. Photography is no different.

I pitched in the major leagues for 22 seasons. I was photographed every day I went to work. But I was so close to it that I never took the opportunity to use my own camera in that context. I might look back now and regret it a little bit, but my photography took a back seat for many years while I was playing baseball.

I was always learning my craft when I played. Now, Im learning all over again. And thanks to the people Ive met during my career, Ive had the opportunity to learn from some of the best photographe rs around.

These days, I travel the world and look for iconic landscapes, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa; the Coliseum in Rome, at four thirty or five in the evening when the sun is setting; or the Eiffel Tower, lying on my back and shooting upward toward s the top.

I take joy in shooting concerts, too. Since I retired, I am able to work in many places where I had no access when I was in high school or college. Back then, I might go to a concert and be able to shoot one or two songs. Now, its all-accessand that means e verything.

Access allows creativity, and creativity allows you to explore different options. Its like pitching: on the mound, the access is your ability to throw a variety of pitches. That access opens up your creative process to explore different ways to achieve the goal, which is recordi ng an out.

The access in photography allows you to capture an image that others may have not seen.

Youll see it in the coming pagesthe best photographers not only have the access, but they also see what most do not. They dare to be different in their approach, their vision, and even their in teraction.

When the person behind the camera connects with their subjects, they get the unforgettable picture. And thousands of those timeless images are preserved in the National Baseball Hall of Fames unparalleled collectionmany of which were shot by artists who literally helped create the genre.

Baseball and the camera came into being at roughly the same moment in time, and the way they have evolved together has kept fans cheering for more than a century. I have been on both sides of the shutter, and they are equally i ntriguing.

Acknowledgments

T hanks goes to the entire staff of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, with special thanks to the following individuals for their invaluab le efforts
in coordinating, researching, writing, editing, and preparing the text and photographs included in this book: Gabrielle Augustine, Kelli Bogan, Bill Francis, Sean Gahagan, John Horne, Jeff Jones, Cassidy Lent, Scot Mondore, Craig Muder, John Odell, Mary Quinn, Nicole Retzler, Jon Shestakofsky, Tom Shieber, and Er ik Strohl.