Mike Trout for Sports Illustrated

Posted on August 24, 2012

Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels gets ready for his next at bat during the game against the Oakland Athletics at O.co Coliseum on Monday, August 6, 2012 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

This weeks issue of Sports Illustrated features a cover story about Los Angeles Angels phenom Mike Trout. My good friend Robert Beck shot the wonderful portrait of Trout on the cover, and I was able to get a few pictures published inside the story. Having the chance to photograph Trout on assignment for my editor Nate Gordon at the magazine two weeks ago was a blast. Concentrating on one player, especially one as electrifying as Trout, is a dream assignment. When I have an assignment like this I try and shoot everything the player does, so my editor does not have to look at and endless take of baseball cards.

The Angels were scheduled to play three games against the A’s in Oakland, so I had the chance to shoot Trout playing in two night games and one day game. This was a great opportunity to photograph the young center fielder in every type of light- from bright and harsh sunlight to pretty late afternoon golden light to the darkness of the outfield at the Oakland Coliseum. Monday night was my first game and I got out there about three hours ready so I could be waiting to shoot everything Trout did during batting practice (see above). I knew the light would be great for Angels batting practice between 5pm and 6pm, so I brought the 800mm lens and went to work.

I love shooting batting practice, especially before night games. The atmosphere is loose, especially in Oakland. I can walk on the grass and pretty much go wherever I want. After BP I have a little bit of time to relax and get ready in the visitors dugout for the players to come back out in uniform to start the game. We have a tremendous shooting situation at the Coliseum that allows me to get some fun pregame stuff in the dugouts that is pretty impossible anywhere else in the country. The Coliseum was built in 1966 and opened for baseball when the A’s moved from Kansas City to Oakland in 1968. Since then the old dugouts have remained the same- with no fences in front of them. This allows me to hang out on the dugout steps and shoot the players getting ready before the first pitch (see above).

Trout was super cool to deal with during the three game series, and I was even able to follow him to the on deck circle to shoot him getting ready to lead off the game- just moments before the first pitch (see above)! Once the games started I headed over to the third base side (for all three games) to start my coverage. Since Trout is a right-handed hitter I wanted to shoot him from third base turning on a pitch. I also wanted to be over there to shoot the kid running the bases and coming hard into third base, so he would be coming straight for me (see below). It sure was nice of the kid to be covered in dirt when he came running towards me!

Another great thing about shooting from third base is I can shoot into the Angels dugout on the first base side from there. Remember how I said there are no fences in front of the dugouts in Oakland? Once again the 800mm lens came in handy, allowing me to shoot Trout in the dugout with his teammates from a long ways away (see top). Being able to see Trout at all times when the Angels were up was fun- and it kept me busy. You never know when something will look cool in the dugout.

Needless to say I banged off many frames of Trout over the three days in search of some special moments that would help tell the story in the magazine. By the time I was finished shooting the final game on Wednesday afternoon I felt pretty good about what I had shot, but I still wanted more.

I am rarely completely satisfied with anything I shoot. I wanted better batting pictures of the kid, but he never really turned on a ball when I was at third base. He doesn’t look that good from first base because he keeps his head down, thus you can’t see his face. One added bonus I was happy about was the home run he hit in the second game on Tuesday night. He crushed a ball onto the television camera platform high above the center field fence, almost killing my good friend Tom Atkins. The swing did not look good from third base, but the homer got the Angels fans very excited, especially the fans behind the Angels dugout with signs commemorating Trout’s 21st birthday (see above). That’s right. The kid just turned 21-years-old!

It was fun to see the magazine when it came in the mail yesterday with a few of my pictures in it. It was especially fun to see Beck’s great cover. I loved being able to shoot this young superstar during his first full season in the big leagues. He might be the first true rookie to win the Rookie of the Year Award and the MVP Award in the American League in the same season since Fred Lynn did it in 1975 (I do not count Ichiro Suzuki winning both awards in 2001).

Trout is a very special player- one of the most special young kids I have photographed in 25 years of covering Major League Baseball. I know this will not be the only time over the next few decades that I will spend every minute at the ballpark shooting him. I look forward to the next time!