Instagram Dispatches of a ‘Baseball Freak’

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The O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., is the least-loved ballpark in the major leagues. Hitters moan about the vast foul territory. Fans squeeze through narrow concourses and squint at tiny scoreboards. Clubhouse workers recently confronted raw sewage seeping into the locker rooms.

But for Brad Mangin, a veteran photojournalist based in the Bay Area, there is no better place to work. Mr. Mangin loves that there are no railings in front of the dugouts. This is unique in the major leagues, and it makes his work much easier.

“I’ll go there and hang out in the visitors’ dugout on the first base side,” said Mr. Mangin, 48. “I can sit on the steps and talk to players. Sometimes guys will sit before they go down the right field line and stretch, and then they’ll come back to the bat rack, and I’ll be shooting.”

Brad Mangin Hunter Pence during the Giants’ World Series parade on Market Street in San Francisco.

“It’s California, it’s laid-back, and the security guard in that dugout is a buddy of mine,” he said. “The players don’t seem to mind. They’re loose, they’re hanging out, and you can’t get that stuff anywhere else. That dugout is so grimy, too. It’s wonderful.”

Mr. Mangin celebrates the little things â€" the pine-tar rags, the bubble gum wrappers, the catchers’ masks, the crushed paper cups â€" in his book “Instant Baseball,” a photo essay of the 2012 season produced entirely with Instagram.

Sports Illustrated, which sends Mr. Mangin to spring training every year, published 18 of his photos last summer, sparking the idea for a book. Major League Baseball, which has used Mr. Mangin as a freelancer for 19 years, sent him to the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Detroit Tigers, and Mr. Mangin took a side trip to New York late in the season to give the book an East Coast vibe, too.

Brad Mangin In the dugout, the bullpen phone of the Kansas City Royals, before a game between the Royals and the Oakland Athletics at O.co Coliseum.

“I went to Citi Field with just my credentials and my iPhone â€" no cameras,” he said. “I had a blast. I got R. A. Dickey to pose for me with his knuckleball grip. I went to Yankee Stadium and got a lot of neat pictures of Little League kids getting ready for a game in the park across the street. Just a lot of fun stuff that shows New York baseball.”

Mr. Mangin is back in New York this week for the All-Star Game at Citi Field, and he will carry more than just his iPhone this time. Although his Instagram photos have become something of a trademark, he said, 90 percent of his work is done with real cameras. The iPhone is always nearby, though, and his Instagram feed, bmangin, has more than 7,800 followers.

“I feel like I’m working for a wire service â€" I’ll text a quick caption and send it out,” Mr. Mangin said. “People seem to enjoy it, the whole immediacy thing.”

Now, more than 200 of his collected moments from last season have jumped from the phone to the Internet to a book, a new frontier for baseball photography with a common app in the hands of an expert.

“I’m just documenting the game of baseball,” Mr. Mangin said. “I’m a baseball freak. That’s what I do.”

Marc Levine/New York Mets Brad Mangin with Mr. Met on the field before a game between the Washington Nationals and the Mets at Citi Field.

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