THIS WAS A TOUGH book. I went to games at Fenway Park, Camden Yards, and Jacob's Field. I went to Shea Stadium and saw inside the locker room and press box. Mostly I took the subway up to Yankee Stadium and sat on the third-base side and watched. There is something about the slow rhythms of baseball that lends itself to sketching.

In college I wrote my History senior essay on Ebbets Field. I focused on how important a ballpark is to its community. In this book I looked at the community within the ballpark. Often I was interested less in the game than in the play of the groundskeepers, trainers, umpires, and fans. A friend took my author's photo in the Yankee Stadium bleachers — moments later we were covered in beer and mustard thrown by fans fighting behind us.

REVIEWS

New York Times 12.7.98
"Baseball may be a nine-inning game to you, but to the ballpark it's also a red tractor mowing the outfield grass, a forklift moving boxes of peanuts, a dryer spitting out hot uniforms and a furry animal running out on the field. Mr. Cooper catches it all here in whimsical watercolors."
— Christopher Lehmann-Haupt

Kirkus 2.15.98
"A second picture book from Cooper, cataloging the timeless pleasures of baseball . . . Sports fans or not, spectators or athletes, children will be engaged for the full nine innings."

One of the ten best children's books of 1998.
— Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times

Published by:
Greenwillow 1998
ISBN 0-688-15755-6 $15