Like Ballparks: Yesterday & Today, this is going to be a short and sweet review. That’s not a knock on Phil Trexler and Marty Strasen’s book. Rather, it’s an acknowledgement that their book gets straight to the point and never quite aims to be anything other than what it purports to be: a collection of baseball stadium images and short blurbs about said stadiums.
In regard to what it is, Ballparks: Yesterday & Today is breezy and good. There is a decent amount of quality stadium pics, and the stories told about the stadiums get the points of the stadiums across. I never felt like I wasn’t getting exactly what the book was trying to sell. It just so happens that this is a case where I was interested in what the book wanted to sell me. Baseball stadiums are unique, plain, fun, boring, and everything in between. They are, decidedly, a function of the sport they serve. For those of us who are into baseball stadiums, you can never quite get enough content on them, and Ballparks Yesterday & Today manages to scratch that itch.
That itch isn’t completely relieved, because though it serves its purpose, ultimately Ballparks: Yesterday & Today did leave me wanting more. I wanted slightly more pictures, more facts, etc. That doesn’t make this a terrible book, but that does mean it’s nothing more than the coffee table fair it was always destined to be. When all is said and done, Ballparks: Yesterday & Today is a pretty good coffee table book, and that’s perfectly fine all things considered.
Lead photo courtesy of Unknown – Publications International
