Fenway Park, in Boston, is a lyric little bandbox of a ballpark. Everything is painted green and seems in curiously sharp focus, like the inside of an old-fashioned peeping-type Easter egg. It was built in 1912 and rebuilt in 1934, and offers, as do most Boston artifacts, a compromise between Man's Euclidean determinations and Nature's beguiling irregularities.
So wrote John Updike in his
moving tribute to Red Sox legend Ted Williams -- an appropriately pedigreed account for this
oldest and
most fabled of ballfields that saw
its first major league game played
one century ago today.
As a team
in flux hopes to recapture the magic with an
old-school face-off against the New York
Highlanders Yankees, it's hard to imagine the soul of the Sox faced the
specter of
demolition not too long ago. Now
legally preserved, in a sport crowded with corporate-branded superdome behemoths,
Fenway abides, bursting with
history,
idiosyncrasy,
record crowds, and occasional
song.
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Apr 20, 2012 -
48 comments
Vintage photos of women in sport. "At the turn of the last century women in the western world were finding a voice, both collectively and individually. As the Victorian era lapsed in to memory and the Edwardian Era commenced many women chose to pursue sports."
[more inside]
posted by gman
on Nov 18, 2010 -
14 comments
Another Country is the name of Chicago Tribune photographer Scott Strazzante's long-term documentary project. Presented in diptych form, he shows the lives of two subjects on the same piece of land separated only by time. From the Cagwin family farm to a sleepy suburban Chicago subdivision, the striking images magically embody the old saying- the more things change, the more they stay the same.
[more inside]
posted by TheGoldenOne
on Jan 26, 2008 -
28 comments
Broken Faces [Flash site] During 2006, photographer Denis Rouvre travelled throughout France to cover a majority of the TOP 14 French (French national championship) rugby matches all the way to the finals. He was given locker room access to take these intimate and striking shots.
via SpoFi. [more inside]
posted by psmealey
on Sep 12, 2007 -
29 comments
I saw a feature on ESPN last night about
Britt Gaston and Cliff Courtney, two Georgia teenagers who are indelibly linked to history as the kids who
ran alongside Hank Aaron after the famous 715th home run. Then I googled around a bit and discovered
Jim Leavelle, the former Dallas cop who will forever be known as
the guy in the hat watching Ruby take care of Oswald in the precinct basement. And then there's
Mary Ann Vecchio, a 14-year-old runaway who was photographed wailing over a dead body at Kent State in 1970. And, of course, there's
Afghanistan Girl. Can anyone think of other bystanders to historical events whose faces we all know but identities remain anonymous? Is there anyone who has not yet been rediscovered?
posted by PrinceValium
on Apr 7, 2004 -
25 comments
