Joe Mock's Ballpark Guide
by Joe Mock

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It was snowing in Chicago when the postman delivered my copy of Joe Mock's Ballpark Guide. There's nothing like a ballpark book to peruse in the middle of winter. Joe Mock is famous for his website http://www.baseballparks.com, so a book on the subject with his name on it is a welcome addition. Given the quality of his electronic endeavors, the fact that his book is first-rate is no surprise.

The first thing to note is its size. It's small, about 8" by 5" and 144 pages in length. This allows for two things. First, you can toss it in your backpack and head out on a roadtrip. Many of the books published in the field are tomes not meant for travel. When Mock says his book is a guide, he means it. The proper way to use this book is to take it with you when you travel. The second advantage that comes with the size is that it allows for the guide to be printed on high-quality paper and still be affordable ($14.95... Heck, most of the time the tickets to the game cost more than $14.95). This is important because Mock was a photographer of ballparks long before he was a webmaster or author. The pictures in the book are wonderful in their own right. Check out the dusk shot at Camden Yards, the night view of the Roberto Clemente Bridge and PNC or the exterior of Yankee Stadium for some great pictures.

OK, so the book is easy to carry and makes for good eye candy, are the words worth reading? Well, it certainly helps that Mock and I tend to agree on a lot of things about baseball parks. Sure, there are some disagreements here and there (he has the ability to separate his feelings about Comerica from his feeling about the demise of Tiger Stadium, I haven't gotten over that yet), but I think he's spot-on about most of the things he says. He covers all 30 stadiums, and I've been to 26, so I think there's enough common experience for me to verify his findings.

Each stadium chapter is divided up into sections. You start with a testimonial about the park submitted by a visitor from his website. The location of the ballpark, with driving instructions, in next up in the batting order. While this is important information and it is well done, I think he could have gone a little bit farther with a bit of homework. Mock does a good job of detailing public transportation in the obvious cases (eg. when going to Wrigley take the El train with a stop across the street from the ballpark), but I think he could have been a bit more extensive here. For example, he talks about how confusing the road signs are in Minnesota with regards to the airport, but when I flew in to see the Metrodome, I took a bus from the airport to a stop two or three blocks from the stadium. It wouldn't hurt to provide a phone number or a web address for the local public transportation concern. Also, in certain cases (Comiskey Park, I'm looking in your direction), a warning about the neighborhood would be appropriate.

The next two sections in each chapter concern the history of the ballpark and the milestones it has seen. With so many new buildings, some of these must have been a little hard to write. To tell the truth, while I found the history sections to be fairly interesting (a lot of times you get to read about older ballparks), the milestone sections didn't capture my attention. Sure, it's neat that Joe Halloffame got hit #3000 here on a certain date, but I don't think it adds too much to my enjoyment of the ballpark experience.

The next two sections are the key to the guide; Joe's Likes and Dislikes and where to sit. In the first you get insight into the character of the park from an expert who has seen every major league stadium and well over 100 minor league parks. If you are having difficulties convincing your travelmates to see a ballpark, read this section to see if it worth the compromises you'll have to make to see the yard. It's also where he sneaks in all of the cool facts about the ballpark. The where to sit section gives you the inside scoop on what tickets to buy. He shares my prejudice of sacrificing height to get on the diamond, so long as things don't get too ridiculous. I have to wonder how tall he is though. He lives in Texas, so he's got to be big. I, on the other hand, am 5'7", so there are certain seating sections angled low enough that I spend most of my time trying to look around the person in front of me. This was certainly the case in both the upper and lower deck at Comerica, and Mock doesn't mention it. Short people be forewarned, I don't think he suffers from this problem. That's a minor complaint though, and I found that on my road trips I gravitated to the seats he suggested. It's also nice to read a person who understand that high ticket prices are nothing more than a function of supply and demand.

Mock wraps up each chapter with sections on buying tickets (with much-needed phone numbers), the team's webpage, other local baseball activities and the team's spring training facilities (and, believe it or not, phone numbers for those tickets too). The only improvement I'd suggest here would be a little research into local scalping laws and customs. It's legal to buy scalped tickets from a storefront (meaning licensed broker) near Wrigley, but even though the cops usually look the other way, it's not legal to buy from a guy tooling around on a bicycle. Back when I lived in San Diego, you could do whatever you wanted in the parking lot, but once you stepped onto the curb you were considered to be on ballpark proper, and would get hassled by The Man if you engaged in free enterprise. It's a lot easier to get a good price on a scalped ticket when you feel comfortable and don't have to make a rushed decision.

This book and a current edition of Baseball America's Directory will spend their summers in my car. For people who plan a little more carefully (meaning that they like hotel and restaurant information), Mock's book plus Fodor's Baseball Vacations might be a better bet (although Fodor's doesn't cover all of the ballparks). This is a damn good purchase and I look forward to the next ballpark book that springs from Joe Mock's mind, be it a minor league guide, a historical prospective or just about anything.