Before the Game

Freelance photographer Mlyn's lackluster black-and-white baseball snapshots do not portray energized close plays, home runs or managers' arguments with umpires but, instead, document pre-game atmospherewhen the players are warming up and kidding around and groundskeepers are hard at work. His subjects include empty stadiums, batting practices, locker-room card games, early-bird autograph-seekers and a rare view of the St. Louis Cardinals in Sunday prayer. Descriptions of pre-game rituals by Rubin, an English professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and president of Algonquin Books, ramble along such well-worn paths as the Steinbrenner/Martin hirings and firings, how to throw a screwball, etc., but baseball fans will want to take a look anyway. (June)