08 Nov, 2009
Book Review: Roadside Baseball by Chris Epting
Posted by: Beach Reporter In: california| travel
Book Review: Roadside Baseball by Chris Epting, published by The Sporting News
Anyone who loves sports will be absolutely fascinated by the new edition of this fabulous book and be able to find incredible trivia about baseball-related stuff that happened near them no matter where they live or lived. It’s divided into East, South, Midwest, West and Outside the Lines (Alaska, Hawaii and Canada). Chris Epting, an accomplished researcher and writer, not only examines old fields, statues, museums and much more, he also lists hall of famers buried in specific states. The old ballplayer, stadium and promotion posters are fun to look at.
I particularly liked his section on the West because I’ve lived or worked near several of these special sites, without hearing of their significance. Like La Palma Park in Anaheim, where Joe DiMaggio played games while stationed at the Santa Ana Army Air Base; Pearson Park, not far from La Palma Park, where Connie Mack’s Athletics played Spring Training games during the 1940s, and the Gateway Shopping Center in Brea, which covers the site of where the famed Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson played in a barnstorming game (Ruth’s team won 12-1 and the Babe hit two home runs). Buy Epting’s book and read the amazing story of how Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run, in of all places, Toronto, back in 1914. It’s a great, and largely unknown story to most of us. How many people knew that George Brett, and his three brothers, who also played professional baseball, all attended El Segundo High?
This most enjoyable nostalgic trip includes current spots, like McCovey Cove at AT&T Park in San Francisco, where I’ve seen lefthanded sluggers hit the ball into the water over the right field fence, causing a frenzy among small craft, trying to capture the sinking hardball. If you need to get a sportsfan a Holiday present, “Roadside Baseball,” is a must buy. C. MacDonald
