Baseball's enduring images recall its storied history.

• Position: National Pastime - Interview

This major league baseball season, like so many others before it, starts with a familiar ring--the New York Yankees open the campaign as the defending American League and World Series champions. Over in the National League, however, there is a touch of novelty, as the Philadelphia Phillies, who were dethroned as titlists last year by said Yanks, are, for the first time in their history--which dates back to 1883--seeking a third consecutive N.L. crown. (For trivia buffs, the Senior Circuit record is four straight flags by the New York Giants of 1921-24.)

In other words, baseball's back--from the crowds jamming big league ballparks all across the country to the sparse gatherings at high school and Little League fields cheering on their charges; and whether it's the big boys or the little guys, one thing never changes, and that is the shared history of our national pastime.

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As a homage to that history--whether you're an avid fan or just a casual observer-there is no better place to turn than Baseball Americana: Treasures from the Library of Congress, as the grand old game (as it was then and as it is now) comes alive in its pages.

Here is an excerpt of a recent Q & A session with the book's primary author, Harry L. Katz:

Baseball fans will be surprised to learn that the Library of Congress has the largest baseball collection in the world. How did that come to be? "Two words: copyright deposit. Publishers and others seeking U.S. copyright registration have to submit copies of their work to the Library of Congress. So, besides books, we also have thousands of baseball films, radio and TV broadcasts, photographs, maps, magazines, and more relating to the game. Plus, the Library has received significant donations from collectors and people prominent in various fields. For example, the Manuscript Division has Branch Rickey's famous paper. Rickey was a major league player and manager, but more importantly, as general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he was determined to integrate baseball, and he signed Jackie Robinson."

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Were there any surprises in researching this book? "As former Head Curator of Prints and Photographs at the Library of Congress, I knew about the early baseball cards in our collection and a few years ago constructed an online feature about them. I also knew about many of the early prints and photographs, but there are thousands of 20th-century photographs, magazines, books, and prints...