Neil Leifer

October 11, 2008

My son and I enjoyed a great sushi dinner last night while we watched the Cinderella Rays get picked off by the Sox. Good food, good game, great company. Anyway, after we ate, we wandered over to the local bookstore and I picked up this amazing book called “Ballet In the Dirt: The Golden Age of Baseball” by a man named Neil Leifer. First off, classic title – “Ballet In the Dirt”. Secondly, have I been living in a hole or something? Why haven’t I ever heard of this man? I’m sure that we shared a dugout in some stadium at some point, didn’t we?  Listen, if you’ve got an extra $30 burning a hole in your pocket, AND YOU’VE ALREADY BOUGHT MY BOOK  (“The Art of Catching” which incidentally is the BEST baseball book ever written), run out and get this one.

It’s without a doubt the finest baseball photography book I’ve ever seen. It inspired me to do a little research on the man and I found a great interview with Leifer done by Larry Berman and Chris Maher. You can get the whole thing at www.bermangraphics.com. Here is a little piece of it…

 

Chris/Larry: What are your favorite sports to shoot? And what are the most difficult sports for you to photograph?

Neil: The most difficult sport for me to photograph was always baseball, because nothing happens most of the time. To make good pictures of baseball was always challenging to me. I mean anyone can take a picture of a collision at home plate if there’s a play at the plate. Or a terrific double play with the shortstop leaping over the sliding runner. But what do you do when nothing happens, because so much of the game nothing happens. In football there’s action on every single play. In Basketball every time you go to the basket there’s a potential photograph. Baseball was always the most difficult for me to make exciting pictures. When the action is exciting you’ve got to make sure you’re still awake. But my favorite without question was boxing.

 

Here is a shot of Leifer with Ali (holding Neil’s most iconic photograph)….

 

And a few more of Leifer’s famous images….enjoy.

  

  

And then there were four

October 9, 2008

I’m looking forward to the upcoming games. First off, my picks for all of you gamblers. LA over Philly and Tampa Bay over Boston. I don’t really think Tampa will beat them, I just hope they get to the World Serious-so I’m going with them. I actually enjoy watching Boston too, probably more so than any Boston team in recent memory. They’re gritty. I LOVE their ethnicity…a true statement for world baseball. It’s hard not to like the itty bitty second baseman, the bald headed-goofy bearded-wacky batting stanced-but can hit and play anywhere first baseman, the third baseman with a peg leg, the left handed Asian relief pitcher who’s head almost pops off every time he delivers a pitch, the ultra goofy- ultra solid-ultra slow closer, the really fast Native American in center, and the big Dominican slugger. Throw in Lester and Beckett and the possibility of some violence with the Tampa team and you’ve got some quality TV. The only thing that bums me out about watching Boston is how much the announcers (whoever they’ll be) are going to marvel over the astonishing game calling/leadership qualities of Varitek. It may be true, I’m just burnt out hearing about it. All that being said, I still want to see the no-name Rays beat em. I love when the Ray pitchers come off the bump talking trash. Maybe if we’re lucky we’ll mix in a boxing match around the mound at some point. The last thing I’ll say is that the catchers in all of these games – especially Martin, Varitek, and Navarro, are going to have their work cut out for them controlling the running game. I’m curious to see if any of these guys hoses anyone. I’ll leave you with a photo of Okajima praying that his head doesn’t fly off until after the World Serious. All for now…happy playoff viewing.

Cable down

October 7, 2008

So I get all ready to watch the ball games yesterday and boom, the cable goes out. Of all the times during the year for it to go out! I mean I really only watch tv on Sunday nights (Entourage) and during the baseball playoffs. Thats it. I was ticked. So on to plan B.  I rummaged through our garage and whipped out our trusty AM/FM radio only to find the tuner dial was broken. So I pulled a MacGiver, took it apart and, along with a little duct tape, got the game on the radio. The family played Monopoly while we listened to the action on AM. It was like we were a family from the 1930’s or something. It got me thinking about a conversation that I had with the great Vin Scully a few years ago. By the way, thank God that we here in Southern California get to enjoy his voice for at least one more season. Anyway, I was sitting next to Vin on the bench during batting practice and I asked him how he got into broadcasting. He looked at me and replied in his classic Vin voice…”Well Brent, when I was little we had no television and there was no baseball on the radio. There was football though. We had this huge four poster radio in our living room and as a child, I would shimmy underneath it and listen to the football games. Brent, the roar from the fans, like rain from a storm cloud, would pour over me as I lay under that radio – and I knew then and there that I would be an announcer.” Classic Vin. Here’s a great photo of Vin and his father along with my MacGiver job radio. Peace.

  

Entourage

October 6, 2008

Alright, so the Halos stay alive by beating Beckett in Boston. That was a big bullet. And didn’t I just tell you that Napoli could play? With that win, the Angels keep my playoff predictions intact. On a much more important note, raise your hand if you saw Entourage Sunday evening. All time. Yeah baby, that’s some good tv. I think we’re finally back on track, and I’m really happy he’s not doing Benji.

Pinatas

October 5, 2008

No baseball games on the tube at the Mayne House yesterday…it was my youngest’s birthday. While I can’t comment on the offensive game of the Dodgers or the Cubs, I can tell you that there was some wicked hacks being taken at the pinata in the park. The kids were swinging the bat with authority!