Crosley Field Book

This book has been out for several years, but I just very recently picked up my copy.

Its funny, this park was finished with baseball way before I came along. An older friend noticed me reading the book, and he mentioned that he had been to some games there as a kid. He was very excited to flip through the book.

There are a lot of pictures and history in this one. The players had to walk through the crowd to get to the diamond. Traffic was a huge issue in the area. A young Pete Rose used to try to bum tickets years before he would play at the park.

I thought this book would be a very quick read, but it was not. You read about the park and the players, then you gaze at the photos for some time, thinking about the place.

The authors do a great job of discussing the parks very early history, its evolution, upgrades, etc. You read about the park's early days, its significant moments, and finally, there is info about what is in the area now where the park once stood.

One of the saddest pictures I have ever seen relating to baseball is in this book. There is a photo of the park being used to as a scrap yard.