Grassroots Baseball: Route 66 Preserves Game's Amateur History

Because few people appreciate amateur baseball like Jean Fruth and Jeff Idelson, it should be no surprise how appealing Grassroots Baseball: Route 66 is.

What the book isn't about is launch angle, exit velocity, or spin rate. These modern-day descriptives of pitching and hitting in the major leagues connect the business side of the game among players and management.

Minus the money and agents lurking in stadium hallways, and kids having fun with the game, this is what Fruth and Idelson set out to share with the rest of North America and beyond. As they say in the game, they touch 'em all with Grassroots Baseball: Route 66.

What a wonderful and captivating concept. Connecting baseball history, from small towns to large cities that connect to the historic highway. More than 250 photographs spill from page to page.

Since 2019, Grassrootsbaseball.org has promoted the game globally. If there are bats, balls, gloves, or facsimiles of any piece of baseball gear used in a game, Fruth and Idelson are capturing where bases are positioned.

When you combine Idelson's three decades-plus serving the game, including more than two dozen years as president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, along with Fruth's photographing some of the biggest names in the game for the Oakland A's, San Francisco Giants, and the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Grassroots Baseball: Route 66 is the winner so many expected it would be.

One stop along the famed Route 66 that Fruth and Idelson made was in Commerce, Oklahoma, the childhood home of one of baseball's all-time greatest heroes, Mickey Mantle.

"This (Commerce) was probably the most profound stop. When we were there it was like being transported back in time. They salute him as a hero there," said Idelson during a recent phone conversation.

Grassroots Baseball: Route 66 has its share of the game's heavyweights behind it. Hall of Fame Catcher Johnny Bench contributes to the introduction. Fellow Hall of Famer Jim Thome offers the afterword, and Mike Veeck, son of Hall of Famer Bill Veeck, gives the book's foreword.

When reviewing the 256 pages, there are no taking time outs. Fruth's images are addictive. Ballplayers of all ages, from Kansas to New Mexico, Missouri, and all points along Route 66, are captured and brilliantly shared for all to enjoy.

For boys, girls, Little League, and all levels of play for kids, Grassroots Baseball: Route 66 will bring the love and innocence of America's National Pastime to life as few books have.