By Marshall Fogel, Khyber
Oser, and Henry Yee
About the Authors Click
Here • Gallery
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Baseball
photography has long been one of the most popular and yet
least understood sectors of sports collectibles. Unlike
cards and memorabilia, which have been documented, analyzed,
and evaluated ad infinitum, baseball photographs are often
overlooked. They can seem confusing and disorderly–not
quite so black and white as their hues might suggest. There
are no numbers or sets. There are no production runs. No
price guides either. Without any concrete standardization
and overarching guidelines, hobbyists have had to improvise
on what they knew, or at least thought they knew. Myths
and misconceptions have reigned supreme, not for lack of
determined interest in baseball photography but for lack
of definitive research.
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Not
anymore. A Portrait of Baseball Photography is
the first exhaustive account of baseball photographs–their
inception and evolution, their collecting criteria, and
their key news agencies and photographers. This landmark
volume has corralled the wild and unwieldy subject of baseball
photography, arming both beginning and advanced collectors
with the necessary tools to make informed, knowledgeable
decisions in the marketplace. Additionally, for those whose
interests may lie outside the realm of baseball or even
collectibles, the book proves itself a worthy work of scholarship
from which historians of photography and/or mass media will
no doubt benefit. Our National Pastime serves as a vehicle,
a focal point, if you will, for the much broader scope of
American photojournalism as a whole.
Part 1
lays the groundwork, providing clear definitions of every
aspect of the baseball photograph's many manifestations,
including the critical distinction between a "news
photo" and "wire photo." Most importantly,
the authors debut an innovative classification system that
categorizes every existing photograph–not only baseball-related
images, but those of politics, war, entertainment, etc.–as
either Type 1, Type 2, Type 3, or Type 4, depending on its
originality vis-à-vis the development process and
publication date.
Part 2
explores the history and stamping records of news picture
services. This groundbreaking resource, based on 15 years
of stamp analysis on more than a million photographs, for
the first time makes it possible to accurately determine
the date of a given photograph, on any subject, based on
the stampings alone.
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Part
3 shifts focus from the camera's output to the eyes behind
the lens–Charles Conlon, Carl Horner, Louis Van Oeyen
and their fellow greats whose immeasurable contributions
to both baseball and photojournalism are here showcased
with newly discovered biographical information, analysis
of technique, sample photographs, and, in some cases, the
first pictures ever seen of the lensmasters themselves.
Its text
aside, the book also contains several hundred classic images
from the annals of baseball, some captured by the masters
of their art, others by the myriad unidentified photographers
whose names are now lost to the sands of time. Whether one
closely reads the text or simply peruses the timeless gallery
of pictures, A Portrait of Baseball Photography
fills a significant void in the bookshelves of baseball
history. The game's photography will never be viewed the
same way again.
