Take Me Out to the Ballpark: An Illustrated Tour of Baseball Parks Past and Present

This baseball season marks the end of an era. One of the most famous baseball parks of all time has closed its doors. Can you guess which one?

This baseball stadium has been known as "The Stadium," "The House that Ruth Built," and as "The Cathedral." This is the only stadium to witness a perfect game in a World Series. It has hosted more World Series games than any other ballpark. It's one of the few older outdoor stadiums to never have allowed a home run soar out of the park. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Micky Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Roger Maris, Reggie Jackson and many others were immortalized here.

Yankee Stadium, an important fixture of our country's culture, has come to an end. The Bronx Bombers, also known as the Yankees, will be moving to a new stadium next year. It seems sad that this monument to baseball Americana cannot be preserved, and will be left only to host games in our fading memories.

But, you can read more about Yankee Stadium in, Take Me Out to the Ballpark, by Josh Leventhal. It's a terrific book especially for baseball fans who haven't been able to visit many ballparks in person, but still would recognize them from TV.

One of the more impressive stadiums of the modern era is Miller Park on page 78, home of the Milwaukee Brewers. Like a car that has a convertable roof, the roof of this stadium is constructed on the same principle-panels that can move and retract. It only takes about 10 minutes for the roof to cover the field. However, there may be a price to pay for the perfect indoor/outdoor stadium. The roof cost more than 50 million, it sometimes leaks, part of the roof can cast a shadow on the grass, and occasionally the roof gets stuck. Once, it got stuck so bad it took $13 million dollars to fix.

If you enjoy baseball and attending games in person, I highly recommend this book. Who knows, you might even be inspired to make a road trip next summer to Miller Park.

For more info about upcoming changes to MLB stadiums check-out the links below:

-The new Twins Stadium: Target Field.
-Take a look at the final farewell to the Cathedral of Baseball, Yankee Stadium.
-Look at the new Yankee Stadium: mlb.com.
-Mets Shea Stadium gets lost in all the media attention given to Yankee Stadium. The Mets are also moving to a new stadium next year. Take a look at the final ceremony and history of Shea Stadium:mlb.com. Their new field will be called Citi Field.