Aspen hosts an eve of storytelling with famed sports photographer
Jean Fruth talks as part of the Changemaker Speaker Series
Jean Fruth/Courtesy photo
Led by the lens, acclaimed American sports photographer Jean Fruth will share tales from her work covering Major League Baseball and beyond.
She will speak at the Changemaker Speaker Series event, “Inside America’s Favorite Pastime,” at 6:30 p.m. March 24 at the Wheeler Opera House, located at 320 E. Hyman Ave.
Drawing on her own personal journey, Fruth will share the many ways baseball connects the community.
“I like to show the stories behind baseball to show that there’s so much more to it,” she told The Aspen Times. “I still love the underdog story. My favorite World Series that I shot was in 2016.”
During the World Series, the Chicago Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians 4-3 to end a 108-year championship drought. The game gave her the rare opportunity to capture images of elderly people who had been waiting all their lives for this win. She loves how deep baseball goes through the generations.
She explained there’s so much more to shooting sports than many people realize: There’s the action and reaction, and there’s also making sure to set the scene, so the audiences know what they are looking at. Then there’s pacing and timing.
“I want to tell the whole story,” Fruth said.
Based in San Francisco, she’s often in New York, where she grew up. Her early memories were of her grandfather listening to his beloved New York Mets on a tiny transistor radio, according to a press release.
She moved to California when she was 25. As a young adult, she became a portrait photographer before transitioning into photographing sports, notably baseball. She began in the days of dark rooms, using a Canon film camera as her first professional camera.
The shift began at her son’s Little League games. She took photos and eventually submitted them to the local paper, which ultimately launched her professional career. Now, she uses a Sony a1 II, which shoots 30 frames per second. Sony honored her as one of its Artisans of Imagery in 2019. It is an invitation-only select group of ambassador photographers recognized for their excellence and for sharing their craft through education.
She is passionate about knowing that there is so much that sports can do for young kids, for youth and for empowering women, which has fueled some of her more recent endeavors.
“I surround my work with purpose and want to give back. Yet, I’m still doing what I love,” Fruth said.
In 2019, Fruth co-founded Grassroots Baseball with former National Baseball Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson. The nonprofit organization focuses on amateur baseball participation, even at the youngest levels, including leading free clinics with Hall of Famers as guests, and providing equipment.
The project’s efforts are documented in her books, “Grassroots Baseball: Where Legends Begin” in 2019 and “Grassroots Baseball: Route 66” in 2022.
Fruth also served as the director, producer and interviewer on the 2024 documentary “See Her Be Her.” The film showcases seven female baseball players representing the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, Japan, South Korea, Cuba and Uganda.
She published an accompanying 2024 book, “See Her Be Her,” including 250 feature photographs celebrating female baseball players.
The book includes notable contributors, like a foreword by tennis Icon Billie Jean King (an executive producer on “See Her Be Her”), an introduction by Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame Shortstop Cal Ripken Jr., an afterword by Pioneering Baseball Pitcher Maybelle Blair and Claire Smith, a pioneering sportswriter.
Fruth has also gotten involved in women’s hockey.
“The doors are being blown open in these sports, so being able to be part of it and create visibility, with the hopes of creating more opportunities for women, is pretty cool to be a part of,” she said.
The Aspen audience will also have the unique opportunity to hear stories of her recent visit to the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, where she had the opportunity to cover the opening ceremony and the U.S. Women’s Olympic Hockey team’s overtime victory against Canada to win a gold medal.
For more information and tickets, visit wheeleroperahouse.com/event/changemaker-speaker-series-jean-fruth-inside-americas-favorite-pastime.
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