The crack of the bat, the ball hitting the back of a glove– sounds that are so reminiscent of Daniel S. Frawley Stadium that they can practically be heard through pictures of the Wilmington Blue Rocks that fans see on their screens. Although, without Bradford “Brad” Glazier, you may never have had the opportunity to experience baseball in this way.
Brad Glazier has been the team photographer for the Wilmington Blue Rocks since 1991 when Frawley Stadium was being built, before the Blue Rocks became a staple on the Wilmington Riverfront.
“Every Friday afternoon at 2:30, see where that lamppost is on [Interstate] 95?” Glazier said, referring to the view from the Blue Rocks’ press box window, where both the field and I-95 were in full view. “I’d have to pull over, get out of my car, and take pictures of the stadium being built every Friday…That was the first thing I had to do for the Blue Rocks– before the team even got here.”
This was Glazier’s “first real job” in regards to sports photography, although his career now spans events such as 2005 Philadelphia X Games and the Boston Marathon. He has also photographed athletes apart of the Delaware Blue Coats; then known as the 87ers, the Delaware Smash tennis team, and even Lance Armstrong.
The different techniques Glazier employs in photography have been developed over his years of work, starting with a backpacking trip to Europe after Glazier had finished college.
“I got home and looked at my pictures that I took with a little, dinky Kodak Instamatic Camera and I thought ‘oh god these suck,” Glazier said. “So I went to a local camera store and I asked about cameras and got hooked.”
From then on, Glazier pursued photography as a career and grew his appreciation for photography as an art form, regardless of what he was taking photos of.
“I used to shoot tons and tons of weddings and bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs,” Glazier said. “For me, personally, it’s [about] capturing those special moments and having fun doing it.”
Also among the long list of “special moments” Glazier has captured include the 2020 presidential campaign of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Glazier has been a member of Biden’s campaign photography team since Biden’s first campaign for Senate in 1972. Since then, Glazier has been crucial in capturing moments of the Biden family and staff, as well as having his photos appear in several White House publications.
Despite Glazier’s various high-profile photography jobs and five awards from the Professional Photographers of America, he considers the Wilmington Blue Rocks to be the most valuable experience.
“Every day is a nice memory,” Glazier said. “I’ve gotten to know a lot of players throughout the years…I’ve shot, I think, three or four weddings of Blue Rock players.”
“The staff, the ushers, the management, the players, ground crew, they’re all great people that I enjoy becoming friends and working with them,” he said. “Every day is special to see a little kid’s face light up when he sees his favorite player, gets a ball or an autograph or sees Mr. Celery.”
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