The Amazing Baseball Adventure: Ballpark Wonders from the Bushes to the Show

by Josh Pahigian

Overview

A visually stunning road trip through pro baseball’s wacky, wondrous, and revered ballpark attractions

Exploding scoreboards, treetop seats, and neon skylines are just three of the more than 100 ballpark design features, field eccentricities, historic displays, traditions, concession items, and even super-fans and mascots profiled in this armchair baseball journey. Combining engaging storytelling with fun sidebars and beautiful color photos, author Josh Pahigian captures the essence of each ballpark treasure—from the retractable lighthouse at the Portland Sea Dogs’ Hadlock Field to the Sausage Race at the Brewers’ Miller Park to Fenway Park’s Green Monster and even to the delicious biscuits served by the aptly named Montgomery Biscuits. From the Rookie Leagues to the Majors, there are more than 250 professional baseball parks in the United States where fans partake in special game-day rituals, eat unique foods, laugh along with the zany mascot, marvel at the park’s special features, and revel in a communal experience that removes them for a few hours from life’s daily grind. The Amazing Baseball Adventure brings to life the very best of these cherished ballpark features, the ones that motivate fans to return again and again to baseball cathedrals large and small.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493025077
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	02/01/2017
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Josh Pahigian is co-author of The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip, and author of two editions of 101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out, which was a finalist for the 2008 Casey Award, presented annually to the best new baseball book. In addition to writing, Josh serves as an adjunct faculty member at the University of New England, and writing mentor in the Western Connecticut State University low-residency MFA program in Creative and Professional Writing.

Editorial Reviews

02/06/2017
ESPN.com columnist Pahigian follows The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip with this photo-laden book of ballpark attractions, old and modern, from the bare-bones rookie clubhouses to the glittering show palaces of the Major League. This informative, chatty survey covers 101 treasures of eye-catching architecture such as the monument park at Yankee Stadium, the swimming pool at the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chase Field, the exploding scoreboard at the Chicago White Sox’ U.S. Cellular Field, the green monster at Boston’s Fenway Park, the cable car at San Francisco’s AT&T Park, the rays touch tanks at Tampa’s Tropicana Field, and the Sun Sign at the Baltimore Orioles’ Camden Yards. Pahigian also notes that many venerable ballparks have historical displays about the boys and young men hoping to go to the majors. Readers can chuckle at the wry mentions of the various team mascots used for comic relief, and will enjoy Pahigian’s descriptions of ballpark treats such as barbecue, hot dogs, wraps, and biscuits. Pahigian’s unique compilation aims to stir up added excitement and pleasure for fans visiting baseball cathedrals in both the minor and major leagues. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

You’d be hard pressed to find any negative reviews about [Pahigian’s] horsehide travelogues.. .. [W]hat sets this latest one apart is really more of a nuanced look at things you may not have appreciated.. .. After a long, wet, dark winter that has occurred since we last saw a baseball game that meant something, this vicarious road trip helped us avoid a little more insanity.

InsideSoCal.com