Treasures of the Baseball Hall of Fame : The Official Companion to the Collection at Cooperstown

"Baseball is at the core of our national life, and the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is the game's national shrine, the repository of its heritage."  So begins this tour of the treasures of the Hall of Fame.  Every baseball fan knows that Cooperstown stands for the best of the history and tradition of the great game.  For those fans who visit this village in upstate New York--400,000 make the pilgrimage annually--and for those who cannot get there, John Thorn, baseball's foremost historian, has selected the Hall of Fame's most important artifacts.  He has written about each piece and what it represents in the larger context of the game's history, and David Jordano has meticulously and lovingly photographed these treasures, capturing their essence perfectly.

In words and pictures, Treasures of the Baseball Hall of Fame  spans the whole of baseball's history from its semi-mythical beginnings through successive ages of legends and giants all the way to today's heroes. A lithographic panorama of a game from the 1860s at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, home of the New York Knickerbockers, begins the Time Line that runs through the book. It includes mementos of the Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869, the first openly professional team; bats and balls from the dead-ball era; the ball Cy Young pitched during his five hundredth victory; Eddie Gaedel's unique uniform; the bat that Bobby Thomson used to break the Dodgers' fans hearts; George Brett's pine tar bat -- a sequence of baseball's outstanding memories. The Hall of Fame's Special Exhibits are showcased, detailing the place in the game's heritage of the Negro Leagues, plus features on the Minor Leagues, the women's game, and baseball abroad. There are paintings, movie posters, magazines, baseball cards, tickets, and scorecards. The game's showpieces, memorable moments from the All-Star Game and World Series, are recalled. Pieces of baseball equipment from across the ages are commemorated alongside souvenirs of old parks  (the cornerstone of Shibe Park and blueprints for the old Comiskey Park) and fascinating artifacts from the Hall's huge archives.
        
It is where Treasures of the Baseball Hall of Fame chronicles the magnificent individual achievements of the game that its echoes will resonate most profoundly perhaps: Harvey Haddix's no-hitter that wasn't; triple-play balls, Roger Maris's bat, a base Lou Brock stole and a ball Hank Aaron hit out. Baseball's immortals are remembered in magnificent photographic collages and evocative essays. Tributes left at the Hall of Fame on the day of Mickey Mantle's death and the letter Lou Gehrig wrote to his wife from a hotel in Detroit on May 2, 1939 -- the day he benched himself after 2,130 games -- almost speak for themselves. And the great names reverberate now and for all time: Christy Mathewson, Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Roberto Clemente, Ted Williams.
        
All that is best in baseball is here, dramatically brought to life. Treasures of the Baseball Hall of Fame reflects the teamwork by John Thorn David Jordano, and the staff of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. This is a magnificent souvenir of America's Pastime, its pageantry, and the glories of its continuing history.

JOHN THORN wrote his first baseball book twenty-five years ago.  Since then he has written and edited a great many more, among them The Hidden Game of Baseball, The Game for All America, and The Armchair Book of Baseball  With statistician Pete Palmer, he created the official encyclopedia of the game, Total Baseball, now in its fifth edition.  He was senior creative consultant to the Ken Burns film Baseball.

John Thorn is the publisher of Total Sports, a cross-platform sports-information company.  He lives in Kingston, New York.