Upcoming Jackie Robinson Movie

This movie looks simply fantastic. In this trailer alone I see faithful recreations of Ebbets Field, Sportsman's Park, Forbes Field and the Polo Grounds. There may be more in there. Looks like Hollywood put up the big bucks and really did it right. Can't wait to see it.

Parking

This is a fun shot from the Shorpy website.
April 26, 1923. Washington, D.C. "Automobiles at ballpark, opening game, Nationals-Athletics."
Next time you have to park at the ballpark think of this!
Make sure you click on the photo at the Shorpy site for the super sized version.
Shorpy is a terrific resource for old glass plate photos from the Library of Congress collection. They take publicly available large picture files and clean them up *dramatically*!

Happy Holidays!!!

I've sort of let things go to seed around here. I'm going to try to make a commitment to get back on track!

Comiskey Park

Here is a recent image of Old Comiskey Park in the last year of its existence. It's a commonly known piece of trivia that the first row of the upper deck of New Comiskey (or U. S. Cellular Field as it's now known) would have been higher and outside of the entire park of Old Comiskey. I'll be loading some goodies up on Zazzle.com featuring this park and New Comiskey Park soon.

KAUFFMAN STADIUM

I've been working very hard on a new series of illustrations to be offered in various designs, starting with t shirts at zazzle.com. If your interested in checking them out, just click on the link or the little ad on the right hand side of this blog. I hope you find them to your liking.

Ballpark Seats

The folks at http://www.ballparkseats.com have the only known example of a figural seat from League Park. They have quite a website loaded with seats from lots of ballparks and arenas. Check 'em out. The lone figural side shown to the left is from the auction house Lelands. The sides were sold in several different auctions. What a beautiful art nouveau design!

League Park

Microsoft's Live Search has a feature called "Bird's Eye View". If you're lucky, you can find what you're looking for in sort of a 45 degree aerial view. It's at Local.live.com Here are some of the views available for League Park. Go to Live Search at Local.live.com and plug in your destination. Click on the little buildings that are popping up in sort of a 3D angle (under the 2d section). That's the Bird's Eye View feature. Once you have the Bird's Eye View, there is a compass tool that allows you to switch your viewing angle. Looking at these images gives you a true understanding of the site and how the existing wall fits into the scheme of things. Until a couple years ago, the concrete base to the lower deck stands behind that wall also existed, but it was crumbling and a safety hazard. Thanks to Lenny Difranza of the Hall of Fame and his webparks blog for this realization. He has been building a site that includes links to various web resources. At his site he has a picture of the Braves Field Windows Live image and from there I stumbled upon the compass points. Good stuff! Thank you Lenny for also giving me assistance on my Ebbets Field image on the New York Historic Ballparks poster.