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Friday and Saturday October 2-3, 2009

About the Book, Baseball Americana:
Treasures from the Library of Congress
by Harry Katz, Frank Ceresi, Phil Michel, Wilson McBee, and Susan Reyburn

Baseball Americana: Treasures from the Library of Congress, by Harry Katz, Frank Ceresi, Phil Michel, Wilson McBee, and Susan Reyburn, is being published by Smithsonian Books/Harper, and will be available September 29, 2009.

Drawn from the world's largest collection of baseball historical images, Baseball Americana celebrates the national pastime with a spectacular pictorial array of invaluable items, some dating to the 18th century. The book features a lively narrative overview of the game's history and features prints, drawings, cartoons, posters, advertisements, photographs, maps, produce and tobacco labels, early motion picture film frames, sheet music covers, and ephemera that depict baseball's growth and its constant presence in American life (available through the Library of Congress Sales Shop).

Sample pages from Baseball Americana.

More than 350 images — many seldom seen or never before published — chronicle the game's hardscrabble history well beyond the Major Leagues, reaching into backyards, farmers' fields, inner city lots, wartime prison camps, rickety stadiums, and anywhere else Americans have marked out a diamond and batted a ball. Baseball Americana is a must-have for any baseball fan.

[Released September 29, 2009. Published by Smithsonian Books/Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins.]

Related Webcast: "Baseball Americana: Treasures from the Library of Congress," presented by the Center for the Book April 12, 2010. Speakers include John Cole, Harry Katz, Frank Ceresi, Phil Michel, Susan Reyburn, and Wilson McBee. Running time one hour.