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This Photographer Has Been Photographing the World Series for Two Decades

3 minute read

When the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals walk into Citi Field on Saturday for Game 4 of the 2015 World Series, one photographer, Brad Mangin, will also be celebrating a milestone of his own: his 16th anniversary shooting the World Series for Major League Baseball.

Mangin, who started collaborating with the MLB in 1994 as a freelancer, has in recent years distinguished himself from the crowd of baseball photographers thanks to his Instagram account, where he posts photos shot with his iPhone.

The device, he says, has allowed him to shoot images he wouldn’t dream of taking otherwise. Take his portrait of the Mets slugger Yoenis Cespedes sitting on a basket of baseballs, shot ahead of Game 1 earlier this week, “I wasn’t working that day, so I went to the ballpark with my credential and just my phone,” he says. “Usually, before a big game, I’d be shooting with my DSLR and I wouldn’t be able to get a good fleeting moment like that.”

Mangin started using the iPhone in 2011. “I immediately fell in love with the special effects and social-networking aspect of working with Instagram,” he wrote in 2012 after Sports Illustrated published 18 of his Instagram photos in the magazine. “I felt like I was shooting baseball for the first time ever, through the lens of my iPhone and the square format of Instagram.”

For a long time, he says, some of his colleagues would argue that those images accounted for nothing and that he ran the risk of seeing his photos being ripped off and used without his permission. Now, they sing a different tune, especially considering that many photo editors now regularly use the social-media tool to find new talent. Mangin has, over the years, built a following of 66,000. In 2013, he published Instant Baseball, his fourth book and the first to focus solely on his Instagram work.

But Instagram’s not the only thing that’s new since Mangin first started covering the World Series. “In 2000, we were still shooting film,” he says. “And then there was this lab in Florida called Dale Labs. It was well known by sport photographers. So we would shoot color negative film and overnight it on a plane to that lab in Hollywood, Florida. They would develop your C-41 and at the same time make a sets of chrome dupes we could send to different clients.”

Today, especially during big games like the championships and the World Series, Mangin’s camera is tethered to a computer, with his selects automatically transferred to a team of photo editors. Within minutes, his photos will appear on MLB’s various websites, including its At Bat phone app and social channels.

Brad Mangin is a sports photographer based in San Francisco, California. Follow him on Instagram @bmangin.

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Yoenis Cespedes of the #mets watches batting practice during today's #worldseries workout before tomorrow's Game 1 against the #royals. #letsgomets #iphone6splus #instantbaseballBrad Mangin
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Fans pour into Wrigley Field before tonight's #sfgiants and #Cubs game in Chicago. #instantbaseball #iphone6plusBrad Mangin
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Autographed #royals #baseballs sit in the home clubhouse before tonight's #worldseries game 2 against the #mets in Kansas City. #iphone6splus #instantbaseballBrad Mangin
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Alfonso Soriano is excited before today's Hall of Fame Classic Game at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York. #instantbaseball #iPhone6plusBrad Mangin
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Latergram shot with the super cool new #iphone6splus from a #reds and #sfgiants game at AT&T Park last week. #instantbaseball #sunset #12megapixelsBrad Mangin
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@dbacks slugger Paul Goldschmidt waits in the on deck circle during Friday nights game against the @sfgiants in San Francisco. This picture was shot with the new #iphone6splus that comes out on Friday. #12megapixels #sfgiants #dbacks #instantbaseball #sweetfilesBrad Mangin
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Justin Upton of the #Padres poses for a portrait on photo day this morning at #springtraining in Peoria, Arizona. #instantbaseball #iphone6plusBrad Mangin
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Matt Kemp of the #Padres holds his new friend on photo day this morning at #springtraining in Peoria, Arizona. #instantbaseball #iphone6plus #puppyBrad Mangin
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#dodgers second baseman Howie Kendrick poses for a portrait on photo day at #springtraining in Glendale, Arizona this morning. #instantbaseball #iphone6plusBrad Mangin
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Joe Torre and the New York Yankes win, 2000Brad Mangin
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Dennis Eckersley and the Oakland A's win, 1989Brad Mangin
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Hunter Pence before Game 4, 2012 World Series Champion GiantsBrad Mangin
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Curtis Granderson #3 and Travis d’Arnaud #7 of the New York Mets celebrate after defeating the Kansas City Royals 9-3 in Game 3 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field on Friday, October 30, 2015 in the Queens borough of New York City.Brad Mangin—MLB Photos
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Kyle Blanks, Eric Sogard, and Sonny Gray, 2014Brad Mangin
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Brian Buscher and Nick Punto, 2009Brad Mangin
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Prince Fielder and Delmon Young, 2012Brad Mangin

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