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    Grassroots Baseball: Route 66
    Grassroots Baseball: Route 66
    Grassroots Baseball: Route 66
    Ebook209 pages45 minutes

    Grassroots Baseball: Route 66

    By Jean Fruth, Jeff Idelson, Mike Veeck and

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    About this ebook

    Just as baseball is at the heart of America, so too is Route 66. This book is a photographic tribute to the national pastime along the artery that stretches from the shores of Lake Michigan, close to where the Cubs play, to the Pacific Ocean at Santa Monica, where baseball memories and players abound. Among the players who will guide readers on the journey will be baseball greats George Brett, Billy Hatcher, Alex Bregman, and Ryan Howard. Leading off will be Johnny Bench of Binger, Oklahoma, and cleaning up will be Jim Thome of Peoria, Illinois.

    In Grassroots Baseball: Route 66, photographer Jean Fruth weaves more than 250 full-color images of the national pastime along the historic highway into a tapestry that reminds us of the heart and soul of America.

    Route 66 passes through eight states in its journey to the Pacific, and each chapter opens with a first-person essay by a baseball legend from that locale recounting his early memories of playing the game, and what it was like growing up along the Mother Road. That highway took stars like George Brett, Billy Hatcher, Alex Bregman, Adam LaRoche, and Ryan Howard to faraway places they only dreamed about as kids.

    Each chapter documents the route they took, from sandlots, ranches, and beaches to ballparks at every level of organized baseball, from Little League games to the World Series. With an introduction by Johnny Bench, a foreword by Mike Veeck, a preface by retired Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson, and an afterword by Jim Thome, this book touches all the bases for any and every baseball fan.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSports Publishing
    Release dateMay 24, 2022
    ISBN9781683584513
    Grassroots Baseball: Route 66

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      Book preview

      Grassroots Baseball - Jean Fruth

      All photographs by Jean Fruth

      Photographs © 2015–2021 Jean Fruth

      Pages 14-15, 41, 42, 43, 58, 59, 246, 247, 248-249 © National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

      Legend portraits courtesy of the legends and their families.

      (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66 © 1946 Troup London Music (ASCAP) administered By Songs of MAM (ASCAP).

      All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

      Route 66 By Bobby Troup. Copyright (c) 1946, Renewed 1973. Assigned 1974 to Londontown Music. All Rights outside the U.S.A. controlled by Edwin H. Morris & Company, A Division of MPL Music Publishing, Inc. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard LLC

      Caddo Country lyrics courtesy of Verlon Thompson Music (ASCAP)

      Text: Preface © 2022 Jeff Idelson; Foreword © 2022 Mike Veeck; Introduction © 2022 Johnny Bench; Afterword © 2022 Jim Thome.

      Essays: Illinois © 2022 Jim Thome; Missouri © 2022 Ryan Howard; Kansas © 2022 Adam LaRoche; Oklahoma © 2022 Johnny Bench; Texas © 2022 Paul Matney; New Mexico © 2022 Alex Bregman; Arizona © 2022 Billy Hatcher; California © 2022 George Brett.

      Grassroots Baseball ™ is a pending trademark of Jean Fruth Images LLC

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the cases of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Sports Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

      Sports Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotions, corporate gifts, fund raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Sports Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, IIth Floor, New York, NY 10018.

      [email protected]

      Sports Publishing ® is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing Inc. ® a Delaware corporation.

      Visit our Web site at www.sportspubbooks.com

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      ISBN 978-1-68358-450-6

      The big shoulders of downtown Chicago are where the Mother Road gets its start.

      COVER The back of a 1968 Chevy pickup is the place to be for Binger Bobcat teammates Tanner Ingraham, Jaydn Wall, and Shelby Gregory as they ride Route 66 west of El Reno, Oklahoma.

      ENDPAPERS Here in Auburn, Illinois, Route 66 isn’t yellow, but it is a brick road you can follow westward into the sunset.

      These pickup players throw the cowhide on a ranch in Claude, Texas.

      A call to the bullpen at Potter County Memorial Stadium unearths Amarillo’s rich baseball history.

      preface

      jeff idelson

      They tore the cover off the ball at Edward Vincent Park in Inglewood, California.

      I can remember with clarity — as if it were yesterday — how my heart pounded during those days I had Little League practice. As soon as the bell would loudly ring in my classroom, signaling the end of the school day, I bolted out of Peirce Elementary. I would sprint three blocks home, have a snack, put on my baseball cap and sneakers, grab my glove, and then jump on my bicycle and head to the field. There was nothing better than being with my teammates and getting to play ball, just like my major league heroes.

      Grassroots baseball is where and when the dream begins.

      Although my playing days came to an abrupt end when I was 12 years old, the seeds were forever planted, as baseball became my calling and my career. My days as a vendor at Fenway Park ended when the Red Sox hired me five days after graduating from Connecticut College in 1986. I worked for the next eight years in media relations and communications with the BoSox and then their archrivals, the New York Yankees. From there I landed in upstate New York, spending 25 years in Cooperstown with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the final 11 as president.

      What lay ahead was giving back to the sport I’ve adored since I could walk and talk. I joined renowned photographer Jean Fruth to establish Grassroots Baseball. The mission of our nonprofit organization is to promote and celebrate the amateur game around the globe, with a focus on growing interest and participation in baseball.

      We launched Grassroots Baseball along historic Route 66, embarking on our maiden voyage in an RV filled with gloves and baseballs. We traveled from downtown Chicago to the Santa Monica Pier over five months, with Hall of Famers and other Route 66 baseball legends joining us along the journey to help introduce the game to young players.

      While Jean documented the beauties of the game and its disciples, we were firsthand witnesses to the intersection of two beacons of Americana: baseball and the Mother Road. There are many competing social choices for children, and a rapidly burgeoning travel-ball industry catering to a small segment of society. That presents a challenge for those of us who believe that the game belongs to the multitudes, to small towns and inner cities, to young and old, to the poor and not just the comfortable. Fortunately, we’re joined in that belief by coaches, parents, umpires, administrators, and volunteers across a wide range of communities in the heartland.

      Leafing through these pages, we hope you see what we saw, the dreams of these young players and the memories of the kids we once were. We hope you listen to the powerful voices singing the praises not only of baseball, but the places along Route 66 that nurtured them and put their hopes in motion.

      As she did with her first book, Grassroots Baseball: Where Legends Begin, Jean uses her wonderful eye, unbridled passion, and considerable charm to capture the magical essence of our national pastime.

      This time, though, the canvas of her masterpiece is not the globe, but rather the road map that took us some 2,400 miles from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean, across the eight states traversed by one of America’s most famous highways.

      We are grateful to venerable writer and editor Steve Wulf, who played a significant role in helping shape and edit the words you will read. The highly accomplished photo editor Steve Fine helped Jean realize her vision with his

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