Grassroots Baseball: Where Legends Begin

By Jean Fruth

A photographic tribute to how ballplayers get their start with memories from Nolan Ryan, Hank Aaron, Randy Johnson, Ichiro Suzuki, Vladimir Guerrero, and more. With an Introduction by Cal Ripken, Jr. and an Afterword by Johnny Bench

In Grassroots Baseball: Where Legends Begin, photographer Jean Fruth features more than 250 of the best images from all levels of the amateur game in various US cities, as well as several hotbeds of baseball around the world.

Each chapter opens with a portrait of a baseball legend and a first-person essay recounting his early memories of playing the game. Some of the stars highlighted in this full-color book include Whitey Ford, Vladimir Guerrero, Hank Aaron, Randy Johnson, Nolan Ryan, and Ichiro Suzuki.

The pages that follow in each chapter document the game from sandlots to big-time ballparks, and at every level of organized baseball, giving readers a window into how these legends' careers began. With an introduction by Cal Ripken, Jr., a foreword by Steve Wulf, and an afterword by Johnny Bench, this book makes the perfect gift for baseball fans of all teams.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sports Publishing
• Release date: Jun 11, 2019
• ISBN: 9781683583264

Book preview

1 dominican republic

A Phillies minor leaguer gets loose in the bullpen at the San Francisco Giants Academy in Boca Chica.

Players and trainers in Sabana Grande de Palenque.

vladimir guerrero

Vladimir Guerrero riding in a caravan to his hometown of Don Gregorio to celebrate his 2018 election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

There’s nothing more important in my life than family, God, community, and baseball. I come from a large, loving family; I was raised in the small farming village of Don Gregorio where many people watched over us; and my brothers passed a love of baseball on to me, as I have to my own children.

My mother, Altagracia, raised 10 children by herself, leaving for Venezuela and Colombia for periods of time to find work to support us. She would send her paychecks home, and we would talk to her on a pay phone once in a while.

I left school in the fifth grade to help take care of my brothers and sisters. I helped with the farming chores, picking okra and onions. I assisted my grandfather tending to the cattle and often had to pull the bulls to get them to move, which made me strong. It also made my hands tough, which is why I never wore batting gloves.

I started playing baseball in the backyard with my brothers when I was 5 years old. We used to play a game called La Placa. Home plate was a license plate, and you had to keep your bat on the plate until the pitch was thrown. It’s how I learned to be a great low-ball hitter. We used gloves made from milk cartons, the ball was a lemon or lime inside a sock that we sewed up, and we would look for a palm tree, a coconut tree, or a mango tree to find the thickest branch, chop it off, and make that the bat.

After my brothers, Eliezer and Wilton, signed with the Dodgers when I was a teenager, I wondered if I would get my chance. I worked out for the Expos, went to the Dodgers Academy for eight weeks, and tried out with the Rangers, too. Nobody would sign me. They knew I could hit but thought I wasn’t in the best shape. I started running on the beach to lose weight and make my legs stronger.

Latin American scouting legend Fred Ferreira was known as Tiburón del Caribe—The Shark of the Caribbean. He offered me another tryout with the Expos, this time in the remote town of Mendoza. One of my friends gave me a ride on his motorcycle because that was the only way into the town. Fred signed me two weeks before I turned 17, and my long career was about to begin. I will always be grateful to him and to my friend with the