Review - "Baseball Fantography" by Andy Strasberg

Are you tired of baseball books with the same boring stock photos? You will not get that with Baseball Fantography by Andy Strasberg. This is a collection of photographs from fans that capture the intimate and personal lives of your favorite baseball players from the past and present. Strasberg began this project when he found an old picture of him with Roger Maris at Yankee Stadium in 1966. He hadn't seen the photo in decades and a nostalgic feeling came over him. He knew that there were other people who had old baseball photos that would have a similar feeling. This is a timeless record of the fans' baseball experience...by the fans, for the fans.

It has been a long off-season for me. I'm a Chicago Cubs fan and having to endure the St. Louis Cardinals winning the World Series, was quite taxing. I put up a wall between MLB news and myself. Saying all of that, as soon as I opened Baseball Fantography, I fell back in love with the game.

My knowledge of baseball would rival men decades older than me. I would always read as much about the game as possible, buy baseball cards from the 50's & 60's as often as I could find them, and I have watched the Ken Burns Baseball series more than I should be allowed. We have all seen the same footage and read the same stories about baseball players, but this group of candid photos reaches you in a different way. This book helps show a personal side of players like: Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle, Derek Jeter, and Roberto Clemente.

The one thing that sets Baseball Fantography apart from other baseball photo collections is the back-story behind every picture. Every picture has a description or a small caveat about what was taking place during the picture. The lone picture that stands out is the candid photo of Eddie Mathews drying off with a towel while he's still in the shower. The oddest chapter is called "Graves," that was dedicated to fans' pictures of the headstones of the sports' greatest players.

You get iconic, absurd, and thought-provoking photos in this collection. It is worth the $19.99 price and I suggest that you head to your local bookstore (if those still exist) or go to Amazon and buy this book.

Strasberg was a San Diego Padres executive from 1975-1996 and now offers marketing expertise to baseball personalities, teams, leagues, and the Baseball Hall of Fame. He is the coauthor of Baseball's Greatest Hit and was a technical consultant for the HBO film 61*.


For more information about Baseball Fantography, go to Fantography.com. You can even submit your photo to be a part of the collection.

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Review - "Baseball Americana" by Harry Katz

Harper Collins has published a great coffee table book entitled "Baseball Americana." It's by Harry Katz, Frank Ceresi, Phil Michel, Wilson McBee, and Susan Reyburn, it's a lot of people's names, but it's a big book. There are so many great pictures and information in this book from the Library of Congress. There's even a panoramic picture of the first Black World Series in 1924. Here is my review of "Baseball Americana"...

I'm a huge baseball fan and when I can read a book about the historical past of baseball, I jump at the opportunity. Some of the things in "Baseball Americana" are things that aren't shown in any other book. Some of the material that this books includes are a picture baseball being played in 1787, the first ever baseball card, a rare color photograph of Satchel Paige, and even a lithograph of the first ever professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1869.

The book goes in a chronological order that is easy to follow. If you are more interested in the period of 1900-1920, it's easy to find all of the information and pictures that go along with that time period. One of my favorite things in the book are old rate advertisements that the baseball players were in. There's even one of Jackie Robinson endorsing Chesterfield cigarettes, I doubt that would go over well these days. No matter what team you follow, you will find something in "Baseball Americana" that you will enjoy.

This huge coffee table book is a conversation piece and a great book to pick up and instantly start thumbing through. I sat down and read the entire book in about a day, but when you start looking at the magnificent photography, it could last you weeks.

If you are a fan of baseball, you will find things in this book that aren't even in Baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. It's an amazing collection of pictures, stories, old cartoons depicting baseball, and much more. It's a must read and at $29.99, it's a steal. Here is a Youtube video with some of the pictures from the book.