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Smithsonian Baseball: Inside the World's Finest Private Collections
Among the national treasures you'll find:
- GenresBaseballSportsNonfiction
296 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2005
48 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 24, 2018
Stellar. Beautiful.
September 20, 2025
For baseball nerds only (of which I am one).
September 15, 2015
I absolutely loved this book, and I think that most baseball fans will!
The author, Stephen Wong, went around and spoke with baseball memorabilia collectors. Documenting their collections, he wrote out the stories from his interviews, and took some incredible pictures. Some of the items found in this book include:
- Photos of some of the baseball players from the 19th century
- Vintage advertising, including some very colorful player endorsements
- Baseball cards. Though many have been seen before in other books, they don't fail to bring a
baseball fan back to their youth!
- Photos of game used memorabilia such as bats, baseballs, signed photos, and ads
- Even old games, including slot machines and gumball machines.
I think that any baseball fan will want to have this book simply for the pictures, though the chapters are interesting in their own right. The author says that collections can be done by anyone, and the book even gives tips on collecting. Though the tips are informative, and the author is right that anyone can start a collection, the fact is that the collections that are in this book are world class. If you look at the names of the collectors, they include a number of doctors, filmmakers, and children of people who worked for baseball clubs. They have the money and access to work their collections, and it seems unlikely that the average fan will be able to build these types of collections. With that said, as is pointed out in the book, if a person wants to start a collection, they should do it for the love they have for the game and the enjoyment they get from collecting.
The author, Stephen Wong, went around and spoke with baseball memorabilia collectors. Documenting their collections, he wrote out the stories from his interviews, and took some incredible pictures. Some of the items found in this book include:
- Photos of some of the baseball players from the 19th century
- Vintage advertising, including some very colorful player endorsements
- Baseball cards. Though many have been seen before in other books, they don't fail to bring a
baseball fan back to their youth!
- Photos of game used memorabilia such as bats, baseballs, signed photos, and ads
- Even old games, including slot machines and gumball machines.
I think that any baseball fan will want to have this book simply for the pictures, though the chapters are interesting in their own right. The author says that collections can be done by anyone, and the book even gives tips on collecting. Though the tips are informative, and the author is right that anyone can start a collection, the fact is that the collections that are in this book are world class. If you look at the names of the collectors, they include a number of doctors, filmmakers, and children of people who worked for baseball clubs. They have the money and access to work their collections, and it seems unlikely that the average fan will be able to build these types of collections. With that said, as is pointed out in the book, if a person wants to start a collection, they should do it for the love they have for the game and the enjoyment they get from collecting.
April 2, 2017
Pay attention to the subtitle, that these are not publicly accessible or held collections. I was more interested in the baseball cards and scorecards than some of the other materials.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews