This superb collection of 60s and 70s baseball images commemorates the sport's finest moments via the lens of legendary sports photographer Neil Leifer

Professional baseball of the 1960s and '70s decades belongs to Neil Leifer, the premier sports photographer of his generation. In 1960, at age 17, Neil had the human drive to match his new Nikon motor drive and he was on his way. With gumption and an eye for the decisive moment, the baby-faced kid from Manhattan's lower east side was soon selling his photos to Sports Illustrated. This superb collection of images reflects the total access Neil had to the players on the ball field, in the dugout, and in the locker room. All the pathos, elation, disappointment, and celebration are etched upon the faces of the players and their mercurial fans.

From the 1960 World Series between the Yankees and the Pirates--decided in the 9th inning of the 7th game by a Bill Mazeroski home run--to the 1977 Series between the Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Neil Leifer never stopped shooting. He was up in the nosebleed section of the grandstands in Yankee Stadium, in the rafters of the Astrodome in Houston, or a helicopter high above. Who won the games wasn't important--only how the game was played. The blood, sweat, and grace. It's all about the game, and Leifer's photographs create a topographical map to the very heart and soul of baseball.

Customer Rating:
Summary: A great book...
Comment: Without question, this is a great book highlighting the work of a great photographer.

Small personal nitpick only: Why was the book published by a German publisher? And not an American publisher, such as Time-Life? After all, didn't Time-Life [including Sports Illustrated, Neil's home] own the rights to publish his work? Time-Life Books did such a wonderful job with their Life Library of Photography series of books in the early seventies. Perhaps the demise of Time-Life since then, and the ascent of international publishers like Taschen, is part of the reason. [By the way, this is not a complaint. It's just a curiosity.] The reproduction values and the art direction of this large volume are excellent. Nevertheless, it feels a bit strange to have the captions to photographs of a distinctly American sport presented in English, German AND French.

Second small personal nitpick only: I appreciate that the Introduction to the book was written by Ron Shelton, but I wished to hear the voice of the master photographer himself. Yes, the photographs speak for themselves. But still...

Jon T.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Look Back At Baseball's Golden Age
Comment: I don't normally goe for books this size,but after looking through the book and the many pictures in it I had to add this to my sports library.Alot of these players pictures I'd never seen before, ballplayers such as Early Wynn,Willie Tasby,Johnny Podres and Jackie Brandt to name a few.All of these pictures were taken by Neil Leifer between 1960-1977 with a couple from the late 50's.Magnificent pictures of Roberto Clemente,Koufax on the mound,and a sequence of photos from a 1976 bench clearing brawl between the Yankees and Red Sox.As an APBA computer sim player these historic photos add more enjoyment to my game.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!!
Comment: The images in this book capture an era in baseball history. From the vibrant cover photo to the pictures inside, this is a wonderful book, well worth your time and money. The quality of the book itself is top shelf, the paper is rich and well printed. Thumbs up to Neil Leifer for this great book and to Taschen for doing such a great job publishing it.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing Collection of Images
Comment: It's mind-boggling to think that Neil Leifer was basically a kid when he took most of these pictures. Born in '42, Leifer had shot a great many of these images before he was even 21. (There's a great shot of him sitting with Stan Musial in which he doesn't even look old enough to be the bat boy, much less a professional pohotographer.) Clearly, however, he was a prodigy and a natural, because this book is full of incredible shots. The narrative that goes along with the images isn't always illuminating; if you're a big enough fan of baseball history to be buying a book like this, then you will already know most of what it has to say. But the text is beside the point; it's the pictures that matter, and on that score Leifer is hard to touch in the history of sports photography. Most of the great players of the 50's, 60's, and 70's are represented, in a wealth of B&W images along with amazingly vibrant color shots that capture the sometimes balletic, sometimes violent beauty of this 'pastoral' game (to borrow the popular misnomer, undoubtedly coined by someone who's never seen a collision at the plate up close).

For fans of baseball or photojournalism, this is worth every penny.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Excelent
Comment: The book is fascinating, with many pictures never seen before, more interesting the explanations behind the pictures, a collectors item

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