From a small darkroom to the most iconic stadiums flooded with lights—Jean Fruth’s trajectory as one of baseball’s preeminent photographers has taken her on a round-the-horn tour of the sport’s most indelible landmarks.
First base was New York City, where as a student she fell in love with the alchemy of photography. Second base meant a move to Healdsburg, California, where her focus turned to portrait photography, both in-studio and on-location. From there, Jean covered the Giants and A’s for the better part of a decade, before turning her attention to the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in Cooperstown, New York, where she helped to build the museum’s profile and photo archive by contributing her work to the venerable institution over four seasons.
Today, Jean is a traveling photographer for La Vida Baseball, a digital media company that tells the story of Latino baseball across the United States and Latin America through original video, written and social content.
She is recognized by Sony as one of its 45 “Sony Artisans of Imagery,” worldwide.
Her book, Grassroots Baseball: Where Legends Begin, the first in a series, was published in 2019 and served in part as an inspiration to co-found Grassroots Baseball, a non-profit organization. Grassroots Baseball’s mission is to promote and celebrate the amateur game around the globe, with a focus on growing interest and participation at the youngest levels.
Jean will be teaching From Grassroots to the Pro’s, online workshop starting April 6th!