For example: bleachers got their name because they had no overhanging roof, and fans there are “bleached” in the sun. Goldberger is an architectural critic/historian for pretty much every prestige New York publication you can think of, so he knows the difference between historical tidbits which read like an overlong Wiki page and historical tidbits which are actually interesting. Later, Americans would find another kind of green space in the city - a ballpark.īallpark is absolutely stuffed with details like that. That’s right people considered graveyards a nice day outing. In any case, you sometimes just want to see something green, but the concept of public parks hasn’t been invented yet. Maybe you moved here from farm country to avoid being locked into that livelihood forever maybe you’re new to America, and cities are where you could find a job. You’re a wage worker in an increasingly urbanized city, where overcrowding, pollution, factory smoke are the norm. Picture this scene: it’s the dawn of the Industrial Age. I’m trying to slap on a lede, here, give a poor man a break.) (And yes, I know Christmas comes later for Eastern Orthodox Christians, and some cultures don’t have any particular midwinter traditions.

The point is, you deserve a present for you, and I’m here to recommend my favorite baseball book in several years, Paul Goldberger’s Ballpark: Baseball In The American City. Maybe you bought gifts, maybe you cooked seasonal food, maybe you worked extra shifts serving shoppers, or wallowed over a breakup between interims of shoveling snow.

Hopefully you got to spend time with everyone you wanted to, and probably had to spend time with people you don’t particularly like. All right you’ve made it through the holidays alive, or you’re a ghost with good wi-fi.

Ballpark paul goldberger