English
Neil Leifer, Baseball - Ballet in the Dirt
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
Professional baseball of the 1960s and ’70s decades 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.
About the artist:
By 1960, at age 17, native New Yorker Neil Leifer, had his first pictures published in Sports Illustrated and he was on his way. He went on to create over 200 covers for SI, Time and People; and photographed 15 Olympic Games, 4 World Cups, 17 Kentucky Derbies, 15 Masters Tournaments, countless World Series, the first 12 Super Bowls, and every major heavyweight championship title boxing match since Floyd Patterson fought Ingemar Johansson in 1960, as well as Muhammad Ali's entire career. Today he produces and directs films, in addition to the occasional photo shoot.
About 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.
About the contributing authors:
Gabriel Schechter, a lifelong sports fanatic who idolized Willie Mays, Johnny Unitas, and Oscar Robertson, is a research associate at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He is the author of four books, including 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.
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Sold out! Neil Leifer, Baseball - Ballet in the Dirt
Leifer, Neil / Kroll, Eric (ED)
Shelton, Ron / Schechter, Gabriel / Leifer, Neil Hardcover, slipcase 15.6 x 13 in., 302 pages, $ 700.00 ISBN: 978-3-8228-2207-4
Multilingual Edition: German, French, English Availability: Not in Stock |
- Audio (1 items)
Eward Meeker: Take me out to the ball game
- Reviews (9 items)
“As a photographer for Sports Illustrated in the 1960s and 1970s, Neil Leifer captured many of baseball’s defining moments. But it’s the routine, workaday shots he took—Mickey Mantle beating a throw to first, Johnny Bench making a play at the plate or Casey Stengel scolding Yogi Berra during a pitching change—that make this collection fascinating. Here, in gorgeous black and white and Kodachrome color, is the game as it looked before the free-agency craze, before Moneyball, when every player pulled his socks to his knees and performance enhancement meant a big wad to chew.”
ForbesLife, New York, United States
ForbesLife, New York, United States
- Clippings (11 items)
Neil's Diamond
Sports illustrated, United States, November 07, 2007
Sports illustrated, United States, November 07, 2007
- Related (4 items)
- See also (4 items)
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