Diamonds Are Forever

by Smithsonian Institution

Book Overview

This handsome reissue of a beloved baseball classic, sporting a new cover, collects the work of America s finest writers and artists as they celebrate the passion and excitement of our national... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0877014752
• ISBN13: 9780877014751
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (CA)
• Length: 166 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Hitting It Right On "THE SWEET SPOT"

Can it really be that no one has posted a review of DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER before now? Wow! "WHO'S ON FIRST?" It looks like I am! The recent pennant-clinching victory of the Boston Red Sox (hate 'em) over their arch nemesis the New York Yankees (hate 'em) and curse-busting Series sweep over the St. Louis Cardinals (hate 'em now - the chokers!) inspired me to revisit my copy of DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. "WHOEVER WANTS TO KNOW THE HEART AND MIND OF AMERICA HAD BETTER LEARN BASEBALL," Jacques Barzun tells us on page 138. But I think Foghorn Leghorn said it best : "THERE'S SOMETHING KIND OF EEW ABOUT A BOY THAT DON'T PLAY BASEBALL." And although Football has now overtaken Baseball as America's favorite sport, the game played out on a green diamond is so ingrained in the American psyche that its idioms are commonly accepted facets of our lexicon. This is illustrated by Lesley Hazleton. Moving to the U.S., she was surprised to find that much of the English she had learned in Israel originated with our National Pastime : "I COULD TOUCH BASE, GIVE A BALLPARK FIGURE, STRIKE OUT AND REACH FIRST BASE LONG BEFORE I REALIZED THAT THESE WERE BASEBALL TERMS." (page 15) DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER is a "gem" of a compendium celebrating the sport with baseball-themed art, photographs and excerpts from a variety of books, essays and poems. It truly reflects the mythology, the emotions, the poetry, and the mystique of the game. I like very little of the featured art, but the writing, being "uniformly" topnotch, more than compensates, and each of the smattering of photographs are worth a thousand topnotch words. This book really does get to "the heart of the hide"; a double delicious dose of "Doubleday." Although free agency and the record-skewing, steroid-laden hulks like Barry Bonds with the 'Frisco Giants (REALLY hate 'em!) have killed off much of my interest, Baseball will forever be a part of who I am. Twice I witnessed perfection while in a Baseball stadium : Kirk Gibson's game 1 winning World Series homer in 1988, and the 1991 mound mastery of Dennis Martinez - Major League Baseball's 13th Perfect Game. (Of course the combination of grilled Dodger Dogs and cold, tap beer was yet another type of "perfection" I often experienced at the old ballpark.) And if you're like me, then you learned some of life's most important lessons while on the green fields of Summer : *I once got drilled between the eyes by a hardball thrown by Craig Richardson, our team's strongest (and most erratic) arm. LESSON : Never sit on the grass behind the "Hot Corner" when Richardson is playing First Base. *After that, I always had one foot "in the bucket" at the plate. This was responsible for my being struck out 21 times that season; a team high that I was never able to quite match again, but leading to another LESSON : The importance of setting and trying to achieve personal goals. *The kid slid into Second Base on a steal attempt. I took the throw down from the catcher and applied

a marvelous book

"Diamonds are Forever" is a marvelous book for anyone who loves baseball. I have lent it many times to my piano students and their parents, and they delight in the colorful paintings, witty drawings, artful photographs, deeply felt poems, and whimsical essays. I believe that baseball has something for everyone, on many levels from the most superficial "three strikes and you're out" to the statistical for those devoted to numbers, to the "head" game", the insiders' level that develops with thought and experience. By the time our three daughters played high school softball, they had learned the inside game quite well and found competitive joy in it."Diamonds are Forever" is a great coffee table book, but in addition to the wonderful visuals, it's a good read. Highly recommended!