BRUNO GMUNDER

3/26/2014

BOOK REVIEW / SNAPSHOTS N°2 : NEIL LEIFER - BALLET IN THE DIRT - THE GOLDEN AGE OF BASEBALL - EDITED BY TASCHEN


Hardcover in slipcase, 39,6 x 33 cm, 302 pages

€ 750




Ballet in the Dirt


The golden age of America’s favorite pastime

 

"Neil’s book has some of the greatest photos you’ll ever see, even if you’ve seen them before." - Yogi Berra

This superb collection of 60s and 70s baseball images commemorates the sport’s finest moments via the lens of legendary sports photographer Neil Leifer

Professional baseball of the 1960s and 1970s belongs to Neil Leifer, the premier sports photographer of his generation. In 1960, at age 17, Neil had the human drive to match his new Nikon motor drive and he was on his way. With gumption and an eye for the decisive moment, the baby-faced kid from Manhattan’s lower east side was soon selling his photos to Sports Illustrated. This superb collection of images reflects the total access Neil had to the players on the ball field, in the dugout, and in the locker room. All the pathos, elation, disappointment, and celebration are etched upon the faces of the players and their mercurial fans.

From the 1960 World Series between the Yankees and the Pirates—decided in the 9th inning of the 7th game by a Bill Mazeroski home run—to the 1977 Series between the Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Neil Leifer never stopped shooting. He was up in the nosebleed section of the grandstands in Yankee Stadium, in the rafters of the Astrodome in Houston, or a helicopter high above.Who won the games wasn’t important—only how the game was played. The blood, sweat, and grace. It’s all about the game, and Leifer’s photographs create a topographical map to the very heart and soul of baseball.

Featuring over 300 photos, the book is divided into four chapters: The Game; the Heroes—like Roberto Clemente, Mickey Mantle, and pitcher Sandy Koufax; the Rivalry (infamously, between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox and the Giants and Dodgers); and the World Series championship.

Limited to 1,000 copies, each numbered and signed by the photographer.
The photographer:
Native New Yorker Neil Leifer began photographing sports events as a teenager. Over 160 of his pictures have appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated and over 40 of his photographs have graced the cover of Time. He has published 15 books, and was one of two principal photographers in TASCHEN’s tribute to Muhammad Ali, GOAT—Greatest Of All Time.
The contributing authors:
Sports authority Gabriel Schechter, is the author of five books, most recently This Bad Day in Yankees History.

Writer/director Ron Shelton played second base in the Baltimore farm system for five years before making films including Bull Durham, White Men Can’t Jump, and Cobb. He is currently working on Our Lady of the Ballpark, a film about the Mexican Leagues.
The editor: Eric Kroll edited several titles for TASCHEN including Natacha Merritt’s Digital Diaries and The Wonderful World of Bill Ward. His photography was the subject of TASCHEN’s Fetish Girls and Beauty Parade.


BOOK COVER























BACK COVER




TASCHEN / COVER BOOK PHOTOGRAPHY
IVO BARNES / SNAPSHOTS PHOTOGRAPHS

EDITED BY TASCHEN
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