Catalogue and collection accompanying the Library of Congress exhibition, recording the gusto and fun of the American pastime, but also its intensity and reach. The game has a rich heritage, fully studied, a richness conveyed here above all in photographs and illustrations, of subjects now long-dead but their charm captured in these images of toothy bat-boys and hearty women players, or in the self-confident American vitality set down in cover images for Saturday Evening Post and the like. ( )

A wonderful coffee table book for any baseball fan, particularly one interested in the sport's history pre-1970. Wads of historical photographs of players and memorabilia, with some interesting short features including panorama photography, early baseball cards, and baseball in World War II. Interesting artifacts include a diary excerpt from a Princeton student in 1786 who is spending too much time playing "baste ball;" pictures of baseball games from young adult books from 1787 on; and the cover of the dime novel "Base-Ball Player" from 1868.