As a testimony to one of America’s most beloved pastimes, the La Jolla Riford Library will display a collection of fan-captured snapshots that portray poignant moments in the last 100 years of major league, minor league and Negro league baseball throughout the month of June. Assembled by local baseball historian Andy Strasberg as part of his ongoing Fantography project, the exhibit eschews professional photography and focuses instead on the personal contribution of devoted fans. Strasberg, who worked in marketing for the San Diego Padres from 1975 to 1996, will be present in the library on June 5 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and again on June 22 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. to accept photo submissions and hear the stories behind the snapshots. He will collect photos of players, ballparks, mascots, scoreboards and “just about anything else that relates to professional baseball” as long as they are not taken by professionals and do not depict baseball game action. “At any game, there is a crew of professional photographers assigned to capture stolen bases and great catches. This is not a competition between professionals and non-professionals,” Strasberg said. “It’s about the game experience as seen through the lens of the camera of a fan.” Strasberg’s project was influenced by a lifelong devotion to the sport. His father, a traveling pharmaceuticals salesman, took him to his first game and encouraged Strasberg’s passion during his childhood growing up in the Bronx. Later, Strasberg said, he developed a relationship as a fan with former New York Yankee Roger Maris. “I’d get to the games incredibly early and I was too nervous to say anything,” Strasberg said. “So I handed him a note expressing my support and my interest in his talent as a player. Over time, I lost the shyness and we developed a sort of friendship that probably impacted me more than anything else.” In 1973, Strasberg left New York for San Diego and met his wife, Patti, whom he married on home plate in San Diego Stadium three years later. Strasberg’s current collection includes about 4,000 snapshots gathered since 1997 from fans nationwide, and even a few from Japan. Eventually, he hopes to amass 250,000 by continuing to travel and visit with fans, then publish all the photographs in a book that will preserve professional baseball as seen from the eyes of fans everywhere. He lamented the fact that so many photographs shot before the invention of digital cameras have been discarded, and that today’s digital photos often disappear into the nebulous online world without ever being printed. “My goal is to retain these images and immortalize the fans on both ends of the spectrum,” Strasberg said. Strasberg has been featured in “Baseball Lives,” a book by Mike Bryan, and has co-authored a book called “Baseball’s Greatest Hit” with Tim Wiles and Bob Thompson. He influenced the United States Postal Service to issue a stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of the timeless tune, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” and worked as a consultant for Billy Crystal’s HBO baseball movie, “61.” He currently works as a marketing representative for several baseball Hall of Famers, including La Jolla resident and former Padre announcer Jerry Coleman, and plays in a softball league once a week with other enthusiasts. His most proud accomplishment, however, is living his childhood dream. “The number one most fortunate thing in my life,” Strasberg said, “is that I’ve made a career doing what I loved most as a boy.” The Fantography display is presented by B.H. Gold Insurance Agency of San Diego, and will run June 1 to June 30 before it travels to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s home in Cooperstown, N.Y. To learn more about the project, visit fantography.net.