Baseball Books

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From Jane Leavy, the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Boy and Sandy Koufax, comes the definitive biography of Babe Ruth—the man Roger Angell dubbed the model for modern celebrity.A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR:The Boston Globe Publishers Weekly Kirkus  Newsweek The Philadelphia Inquirer The ProgressiveWinner of the 2019 SABR Seymour Medal Finalist for the PEN/ESPN Literary Sports Writing Award Longlisted for Spitball Magazine’s Casey Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year Finalist for the NBCC Award for Biography“Leavy’s newest masterpiece…. A major work of American history by an author with a flair for mesmerizing story-telling.” —ForbesHe lived in the present tense—in the camera’s lens. There was no frame he couldn’t or wouldn’t fill. He swung the heaviest bat, earned the most money, and incurred the biggest fines. Like all the new-fangled gadgets then flooding the marketplace—radios, automatic clothes washers, Brownie cameras, microphones and loudspeakers—Babe Ruth made impossible events happen. Aided by his crucial partnership with Christy Walsh—business manager, spin doctor, damage control wizard, and surrogate father, all stuffed into one tightly buttoned double-breasted suit—Ruth drafted the blueprint for modern athletic stardom.His was a life of journeys and itineraries—from uncouth to couth, spartan to spendthrift, abandoned to abandon; from Baltimore to Boston to New York, and back to Boston at the end of his career for a finale with the only team that would have him. There were road trips and hunting trips; grand tours of foreign capitals and post-season promotional tours, not to mention those 714 trips around the bases.After hitting his 60th home run in September 1927—a total that would not be exceeded until 1961, when Roger Maris did it with the aid of the extended modern season—he embarked on the mother of all barnstorming tours, a three-week victory lap across America, accompanied by Yankee teammate Lou Gehrig. Walsh called the tour a Symphony of Swat. The Omaha World Herald called it the biggest show since Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey, and seven other associated circuses offered their entire performance under one tent. In The Big Fella, acclaimed biographer Jane Leavy recreates that 21-day circus and in so doing captures the romp and the pathos that defined Ruth’s life and times. Drawing from more than 250 interviews, a trove of previously untapped documents, and Ruth family records, Leavy breaks through the mythology that has obscured the legend and delivers the man.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this candid, revealing, and entertaining memoir, the beloved New York Yankee legend looks back over his nearly fifty-year career as a player and a manager, sharing insights and stories about some of his most memorable moments and some of the biggest names in Major League Baseball.For nearly five decades, Lou Piniella has been a fixture in Major League Baseball, as an outfielder with the legendary New York Yankees of the 1970s, and as a manager for five teams in both the American and National leagues. With respected veteran sportswriter Bill Madden, Piniella now reflects on his storied career, offering fans a glimpse of life on the field, in the dugout, and inside the clubhouse.Piniella speaks from the heart about his teams and his players, offering a detailed, up-close portrait of the Bronx Zoo’s raucous personalities such as Reggie Jackson and Catfish Hunter, as well as his close friendship with Thurman Munson and his unusual relationship with George Steinbrenner. He also delves deep into his post-Yankee experiences, from winning a World Series for the controversial owner of the Cincinnati Reds, Marge Schott, to transforming the perennial cellar-dwelling Seattle Mariners into one of the league’s best teams. Some of the game’s brightest stars are here: Ken Griffey Jr, Randy Johnson, and Alex Rodriguez, Piniella’s supremely talented and controversial protégé. Throughout his time in the majors, Piniella has witnessed MLB grow into a multi-billion-dollar business. Piniella reflects on those changes, voicing his highly critical opinions on a range of controversial subjects, including steroids. Hilarious and uproarious, filled with eight pages of photos, Lou brings into focus a man whose deeply rooted passion for baseball has defined his life.

Read more less

Book Synopsis“Winner of the 2018 CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year.”The former ESPN columnist and analytics pioneer dramatically recreates an action-packed 2017 game between the Oakland A’s and eventual World Series Champion Houston Astros to reveal the myriad ways in which Major League Baseball has changed over the last few decades.On September 8, 2017, the Oakland A’s faced off against the Houston Astros in a game that would signal the passing of the Moneyball mantle. Though this was only one regular season game, the match-up of these two teams demonstrated how Major League Baseball has changed since the early days of Athletics general manager Billy Beane and the publication of Michael Lewis’ classic book.Over the past twenty years, power and analytics have taken over the game, driving carefully calibrated teams like the Astros to victory. Seemingly every pitcher now throws mid-90s heat and studiously compares their mecha

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis“This is a weird, wonderful, and essential book about both America and its pastime. It’s about a place as vast as New York City and as intimate as the human heart. Fred Exley meets Richard Ben Cramer—a funny, wild, heartfelt, and keenly observed portrait of yearning itself.”—Wright Thompson, New York Times bestselling author of The Cost of These Dreams“Mr. Gordon’s ability to explain the Sisyphean plight of all Mets fans is truly remarkable. Bravo!”—Ron Darling, New York Times bestselling author of Game 7, 1986The Mets lose when they should win. They win when they should lose. And when it comes to being the worst, no team in sports has ever done it better than the Mets. In So Many Ways to Lose, author and lifelong Mets fan Devin Gordon sifts through the detritus of Queens for a baseball history like no other.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review“Alex Speier is one of the few writers I’d read on any topic, and he’s written a fascinating book about a historic season. The jaw-dropping anecdotes and juicy behind-the-scenes details will make this a must-read for Red Sox fans; the powerful, nuanced description of why team building is so important -- not just in baseball or sports, but life in general--will make it a classic for everyone else.” — Seth Mnookin, bestselling author of Feeding the Monster “I get to read Alex Speier almost daily in the Boston Globe and have anxiously been waiting for his first book. It does not disappoint. If you love the Red Sox or just like baseball, this is the book for you. A deep dive into how the 119-win champion Red Sox were built.” — Dan Shaughnessy, New York Times bestselling author of The Curse of the Bambino “A tight, tense, and quite enjoyable story, almost like an adventure novel.... Well worth the read.” — Bookreporter.com “Speier tracks the development of the [Red Sox] core from 2011 to their 2018 championship. ... The narrative of a team in the making delivers compelling reading. A must for Red Sox fans.” — Booklist “A fascinating look at the building of an elite baseball club.” — Library Journal “Alex Speier spins a compelling narrative about how great scouting and player development created a perennial contender in baseball’s toughest division, without losing sight of the people at the heart of his story.” — Keith Law, author of Smart Baseball "[Speier is] a talented and surprisingly non-biased observer of exactly how the juggernaut Red Sox... had been assembled. ... A welcome companion to help any baseball fan pass the cold winter months." — Lincoln Journal Star “With Homegrown, it is clear Alex Speier has put his time in, both in the clubhouse and in learning about this special core of young players that delivered another championship to Boston. This is a good book, merging the pressures of the field and the dealmaking of the front offices without shortchanging either one.” — HOWARD BRYANT, senior writer, ESPN the Magazine “Describes how the succession of Theo Epstein, Ben Cherington and [Dave] Dombrowski built the 2018 champions. ... Well-written.” — New York Post "A must read." — Pittsburgh Tribune Review

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis“Seldom does a sports biography—especially a page-turner—so comprehensively explain the forces that made an icon the way they are.” - Sports IllustratedFrom the author of The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron comes the definitive biography of Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, baseball’s epic leadoff hitter and base-stealer who also stole America’s heart over nearly five electric decades in the game.Few names in the history of baseball evoke the excellence and dynamism that Rickey Henderson’s does. He holds the record for the most stolen bases in a single game, and he’s scored more runs than any player ever. “If you cut Rickey Henderson in half, you’d have two Hall of Famers,” the baseball historian Bill James once said.But perhaps even more than his prowess on the field, Rickey Henderson’s is a story of Oakland, California, the town that gave

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisBernard Malamud, one of America's most important novelists and short-story writers, was born in Brooklyn in 1914. He took his B.A. degree at the City College of New York and his M.A. at Colombia University. From 1940 to 1949 he taught in various New York schools, and then joined the staff of Oregon State University, where he stayed until 1961. Thereafter, he taught at Bennington State College, Vermont. His remarkable, and uncharacteristic first novel, The Natural, appeared in 1952. Malamud received international acclaim with the publication of The Assistant (1957, winner of the Rosenthal Award and the Daroff Memorial Award). His other works include The Magic Barrel (1958, winner of the National Book Award), Idiots First (1963, short stories), The Fixer (1966, winner of a second National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize), Pictures of Fidelman (1969), The Tenants (1971), Rembrandt's Hat (1973, short stories), Dubin's LivesTrade ReviewA rich original of the first rank -- Saul BellowOne of the best writers in the English language... His work embeds itself into one's consciousness and refuses to be dislodged * Sunday Times *The Natural by Bernard Malamud shows the agony, destruction and pathos that come often with great sports talent -- Sid Waddell, sports commentator * Independent *This book established that we could have a serious adult baseball novel by playing with the parallels between mythical elements in the game and mythical elements in literature * Chicago Tribune *Bernard Malamud's The Natural that still leads the field [for novels about baseball]. It is one of the landmarks of a period in US fiction when Jewish novelists dominated the scene with work of the highest ambition * Metro *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTable of Contents1. An appreciation of baseball and its mathematics 2. Is baseball still the national pastime? 3. Baseball before steroids 4. Bill James and the genesis of sabermetrics 5. Rattling the sabermetrics 6. The annihilation of records: Where have you gone, Babe Ruth? 7. Steroids, etc. 8. Scandal scarred: A discussion of our national pastime’s controversial history 9. The last inning 10. Epilogue: Where have we been? Where do we go from here? A final word from the editor

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe definitive and dramatic story of the Alex Rodriguez and Biogenesis scandal, written by the reporters who broke and covered the story.“Blood Sport is riveting...a tragicomedy filled with characters straight out of a Carl Hiaasen novel.”—The Washington PostThe effects of the Biogenesis case—the biggest drug scandal in the history of American sports—are still being felt today. Fifteen Major League Baseball players were suspended, including Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez. Ten men were indicted in federal court. And a new MLB commissioner was elected based on his role leading the response to the case. Now, Tim Elfrink—who broke that first story in the Miami New Times—joins forces with Pulitzer Prize finalist investigative reporter Gus Garcia-Roberts to tell the shocking full story behind the headlines. Blood Sport blows the lid off the most expensive scandal in the history of th

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this first volume of two, Harold Seymour traces the growth of baseball from early English children''s games to the formation in 1903 of the two present-day professional major leagues. By investigating previously unexamined sources, he uncovers the real story of baseball''s evolution in the United States from a gentleman''s amateur sport of well-bred play followed by well-laden banquet tables into a professional sport where big leagues operate under their own rules. Offering countless colourful anecdotes and a wealth of new information, Seymour explodes many cherished myths. He unveils the influence of baseball on American business, manners, morals, social institutions and show business and sketches revealing portraits of the men who became the first professional players, club owners, and managers.Trade ReviewPraise for Volume I: "An important reference, very readable."--The New York Public Library "Indispensable."--Dr. Daniel Boorstin, Director, Library of Congress "Will remain the basic reference for baseball history."--New York Historical Review "First-rate history....[Seymour] gives a full picture of player salaries, of owner deceits, of public frenzy."--The Baltimore Sun "Half of what will be the most comprehensive, serious, authoritative, and sociological study of baseball ever put to paper."--San Francisco Chronicle "It puts baseball...firmly in the American picture....[An] admirable book."--The Times Literary Supplement (London) "[Seymour] has the intellectual's passion for facts, but he writes with the light touch of a sports writer."--New York Daily News "Stands in a class by itself."--St. Petersburg Times "Right off the bat, let me say that this history of baseball stands in a class by itself."--John Barkham, Saturday Review Syndicate "With great care the book tells how the game was born, struggled, survived, and prospered, despite bird-brained direction at the top, chicanery at all levels, bullying of players, player revolts, monopolistic and power tactics, scandals, rowdyism and even violence."--Providence Journal

Read more less

Book SynopsisFollowing the story begun in Baseball: The Early Years, Harold Seymour explores the glorious and grevious era when the game truly captured the American imagination with legendary figures like Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, but also appalled fans with startling scandals. The Golden Age begins with the formation of the two major leagues in 1903, and describes how the organization of the professional game improved from an unwieldy three-man commission to the strong rule of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Seymour depicts the ways in which play on the field developed from the low-scoring, pitcher-dominated game of the `dead ball'' era before the First World War to the high scores of the `lively ball'' era of the 1920s.Trade Review"Seymour's books remain the most entertaining and informative histories about baseball's position in American culture."--H. Gehrig Coleman, University of Texas Praise for Volume II: "Will grip every American who has invested part of his youth and dreams in the sport, and it will inform everyone else who is interested in an American phenomenon as native as apple pie."--The New York Times "Noteworthy for its thoroughness and for the way its author relates the sport to American life....Seymour has an eye for humorous detail."--Publishers Weekly "[A] splendidly researched baseball history."--Business Week "Sports historians will welcome [this volume] as a contribution to our growing knowledge of American baseball."--Journal of American History "With devastating documentation [Seymour] portrays the contrast between the beauty of the game on the field and widespread dishonesty off it."--The New Republic

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom the first amateur leagues of the 1860s to the exploits of Livan and Orlando El Duque Hernandez, here is the definitive history of baseball in Cuba. Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria expertly traces the arc of the game, intertwining its heroes and their stories with the politics, music, dance, and literature of the Cuban people. What emerges is more than a story of balls and strikes, but a richly detailed history of Cuba told from the unique cultural perch of the baseball diamond. Filling a void created by Cuba''s rejection of bullfighting and Spanish hegemony, baseball quickly became a crucial stitch in the complex social fabric of the island. By the early 1940s Cuba had become major conduit in spreading the game throughout Latin America, and a proving ground for some of the greatest talent in all of baseball, where white major leaguers and Negro League players from the U.S. all competed on the same fields with the cream of Latin talent. Indeed, readers will be introduced to several blTrade ReviewCuba's love affair with the American bat and ball is given encyclopedic treatment in The Pride of Havana ... the prose is as smooth and powerful as a good pitch delivery ... Best of all is the backdrop of history - political, social and popular - against which the baseball stars perform ... For students of old Cuba, Echevarría's book hits a home run. * John Lantigua, Times Literary Supplement *The Pride of Havana is an absorbing history of Cuban baseball and the impact so many Cuban players have had on the game in the United States. It sparkles like El Duque in October. * Bob Costas, NBC Sports *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Baseball Trust is about the origins and persistence of baseball''s exemption from antitrust law, which is one of the most curious features of our legal system and also one of the most well known to sports fans. Every other sport, like virtually every other kind of business, is governed by the antitrust laws, but baseball has been exempt for nearly a century. No one thinks this state of affairs makes any sense. The conventional explanation of this oddity emphasizes baseball''s unique cultural status as the national pastime, and assumes that judges and legislators have expressed their love for the game by insulating it from antitrust attack. A serious baseball fan, Stuart Banner provides a thoroughly entertaining history of the game through the prism of the antitrust exemption. But he also narrates a very different kind of baseball history, one in which a sophisticated business organization successfully worked the levers of the legal system to achieve a result enjoyed by no other indTrade ReviewThe Baseball Trust is impeccably researched and a valuable history of the politics, law and business of professional sports * Peter Catapano, City University of New York *This well-researched, well-written book merits a diverse audience, whether baseball fan, historian, public official, or legal scholar ... Highly recommended. * A.R. Sanderson, CHOICE *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The Reserve Clause ; 2. The Baseball Trust ; 3. The Supreme Court Steps In ; 4. The Birth of the Antitrust Exemption ; 5. Baseball Becomes Unique ; 6. A Political Football ; 7. Three Months of State Antitrust Law ; 8. The Curt Flood Case ; 9. The End of the Reserve Clause ; 10. A Shrunken Exemption

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe history of baseball is rife with colorful characters. But for sheer cantankerousness and will to win, very few have come close to Leo 'the Lip' Durocher. This work tells the story of his life in the game. It is baseball at its best, brimming with personality and the fights and feuds, triumphs and tricks that made Durocher such a success.Trade Review"The delight of the book is its exuberance, its sense of a life lived at full tilt.... Durocher is a first-class raconteur." - New York Times Book Review "Mr. Durocher has somehow managed to be involved with more than his fair share of baseball's mythic moments and situations.... This is Leo Durocher talking straight as a low line drive." - New York Times"

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisA revealing look at the history of women's exclusion from America's national pastimeTrade ReviewA Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2010. "Sharp, thoroughly researched examination of gender discrimination in [baseball].--Los Angeles Times"Throwing 'like a girl' is an age-old taunt, and Jennifer Ring has had enough of it."--Washington Post“An extraordinary account of the rejection of female players from baseball. . . . [Ring] searches for ways to reclaim baseball’s nickname, 'the people’s game,' and encourage females who want to play a game they are passionate about. Highly recommended.”--Choice"The story Ring tells is outrageous. Her title is accurate: baseball has been stolen from girls."--Women's Review of Books“An important work. . . . Ring traces over a 100 years of issues arising from individuals, cultural biases, legal arguments, and the like to develop a full picture.”--Cave 17.com"By examining the systematic exclusion of women from baseball, this compelling book goes into depth about a topic that most historians do not even question. With a gripping storyline and strong, clear prose, Stolen Bases contains some of the best sportswriting I have seen."--Susan K. Cahn, coeditor of Women and Sports in the United States: A Documentary Reader"This book blends history, political economy, sociology, and biography to form an engaging narrative about the place of women in baseball. Jennifer Ring offers fresh insights, focusing on the game's maternity and the development of efforts to preclude women from playing baseball or acknowledging their place in the game's past."--Adrian Burgos Jr., author of Playing America's Game: Baseball, Latinos, and the Color LineTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Prologue: Entitlement and Its Absence 1 1. Introduction: A Quick and Dirty History of Baseball 15 2. The Girls' Game 31 3. A. G. Spalding and America's Needs 47 4. Enter Softball 59 5. How Baseball Became Manly and White 73 6. American Womanhood and Athletics 91 7. Cricket 102 8. Stolen Bases 116 9. Collegiate Women's Baseball 134 10. The Invisibility of Bias 151 Epilogue: What Does Equality Look Like? 169 Notes 183 Index 197

Read more less

Book SynopsisDefies conventional wisdom to explain why the unanimous Supreme Court opinion authored by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, which gave rise to Major League Baseball's exemption from antitrust law, was correct given the circumstances of the time.Trade ReviewLarry Ritter Book Award, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), 2015. Finalist, Seymour Medal, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), 2015. David J. Langum Sr. Prize for American Legal History/Biography, Langum Charitable Trust, 2014. "Grow explains that the afterlife of Federal Baseball is more remarkable than the conclusions in the case itself. With careful and measured scholarship, Grow urges later reader of Federal Baseball to recognize that the case was heard before widespread interstate radio coverage, and before the broad interpretation of 'commerce' in the New Deal decisions."--Western Legal History"Using newly released attorney correspondence, court records, and newspaper accounts of the time, Grow presents in stunning detail the background, characters, arguments, events, tactics, (and mistakes) leading to the Federal Baseball decision. showing that 'many of the common criticisms. . . are unjust, as the decision was consistent with the prevailing judicial precedents of the day'. . . . Recommended.'"--Choice"Federal Baseball, the shorthand name of the case, is still the law of land. Here is a baseball book in which the major on-field action is the serving of various contract-jumping players with court orders. But if a reader is interested in how the business of baseball developed, the case is crucial; and Baseball on Trial can explain how and why."--Nine "Grow's book is impressively comprehensive and exhaustive. . . . for the reader interested in a comprehensive account of a seminal moment in baseball's legal history, Grow's Baseball on Trial is an excellent choice."--Law and History Review"Grow undoubtedly succeeds in shining a light on the buildup to and background of the Federal Baseball decision."--Sport in American History"[A] thoughtful and provocative analysis of one of the most controversial topics in sports law: Baseball's antitrust exemption. Grow adroitly connects recent disclosures from the Baseball Hall of Fame to advance his argument that the Federal Baseball holding made much more sense ninety years ago than contemporary commentators tend to regard it. As baseball's antitrust exemption continues to face legal challenges--including whether the Oakland A's can move to San Jose--Grow's book will undoubtedly play an influential role."--Michael McCann, Sports Illustrated legal analyst"The lawsuits arising from the Federal League's challenge to Major League Baseball and their aftermath defined much of the way baseball has evolved over the past century. Bolstered by original research, Grow explains both the broader picture and the intriguing behind-the-scenes machinations, and he does so in a clear and entertaining fashion."-- Daniel R. Levitt, author of The Battle that Forged Modern Baseball: The Federal League Challenge and Its Legacy"An outstanding book based on previously unused materials, Baseball on Trial makes a truly significant contribution to the fields of baseball and the law, sports law, antitrust law, and legal history. Anyone discussing the trilogy of Supreme Court cases that created baseball's antitrust exemption needs to read this book."--Edmund P. Edmonds, co-editor of Baseball and Antitrust: The Legislative History

Read more less

Book SynopsisMarvin Miller changed major league baseball and the business of sports. Drawing on research and interviews with Miller and others, Marvin Miller, Baseball Revolutionary offers the first biography covering the pivotal labor leader''s entire life and career. Baseball historian Robert F. Burk follows the formative encounters with Depression-era hard times, racial and religious bigotry, and bare-knuckle Washington and labor politics that prepared Miller for his biggest professional challenge--running the moribund Major League Baseball Players Association. Educating and uniting the players as a workforce, Miller embarked on a long campaign to win the concessions that defined his legacy: decent workplace conditions, a pension system, outside mediation of player grievances and salary disputes, a system of profit sharing, and the long-sought dismantling of the reserve clause that opened the door to free agency. Through it all, allies and adversaries alike praised Miller''s hardnosed Trade Review“The first comprehensive biography of Miller, the former steelworkers union official who transformed the toothless Players Association into what may be the nation’s most powerful private-sector union.”--Wall Street Journal “A must-read for anyone interested in how MLB salaries went from an average of $11,000 in 1966 to $3,386,212 in 2013.”—Library Journal"This sound biography is required reading for those interested in sports and in 20th-century history and labor."--Choice"Burk writes gracefully and insightfully, chronicling the life of one of baseball's most significant figures. He succeeds admirably in illuminating the evolution of Marvin Miller's intellect as well as his soul, in placing Miller's life in its historical context and in explaining how this frail man from Brooklyn with a bum arm was able to reshape the landscape of our national pastime." --Andrew Zimbalist, author of In the Best Interests of Baseball? Governing Our National Pastime"Whether he ever gets into the Hall of Fame, Marvin Miller revolutionized the business of sport. Along with Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey, Kenesaw Mountain Landis and Babe Ruth, Miller belongs among the handful of true baseball immortals. No one transformed the national pastime more significantly. Robert F. Burk provides a book worthy of its subject."--Aethlon: The Journal of Sport Literature"A welcomed contribution that serves as required reading for anyone interested in exploring the complexities of baseball, economics, or labor history in the 1960s through 1980s."--Journal of Sport History"The Baseball Hall of Fame is not a hall of fame without Marvin Miller. As Robert F. Burk and others have written, Miller belongs on baseball’s Mount Rushmore. In Marvin Miller: Baseball Revolutionary, Burk has written a book worthy of Miller the man, the communicator, the strategist, the labor leader, and the baseball visionary. Every big league player and baseball fan should read it."-- Brad Snyder, author of A Well-Paid Slave: Curt Flood’s Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports"Burk knows the business of baseball inside and out, making him the ideal person to write about Miller. His research is impeccable and his writing is straightforward. The compelling aspect of the book is the story of Miller's role in transforming Major League Baseball, and that Burk tells with confidence and focus."--Randy Roberts, author of Joe Louis: Hard Times Man

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"These essays deliver intelligent analysis, brilliant insights, wit, laugh-out-loud hilarity, and a disarmingly serious look at David Zang's passion for sport and its place in his life and ours."--Richard Crepeau, author of NFL Football: A History of America's New National Pastime"Funny, poignant, smart, and crisply written, I Wore Babe Ruth's Hat reminds us why we care so much about sports--and why we keep telling its stories."--Aram Goudsouzian, author of King of the Court: Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 2007, the Mitchell Report shocked traditionalists who were appalled that drugs had corrupted the pure game of baseball. Nathan Corzine rescues the story of baseball''s relationship with drugs from the sepia-toned tyranny of such myths. In Team Chemistry , he reveals a game splashed with spilled whiskey and tobacco stains from the day the first pitch was thrown. Indeed, throughout the game''s history, stars and scrubs alike partook of a pharmacopeia that helped them stay on the field and cope off of it: In 1889, Pud Galvin tried a testosterone-derived elixir to help him pile up some of his 646 complete games. Sandy Koufax needed Codeine and an anti-inflammatory used on horses to pitch through his late-career elbow woes. Players returning from World War II mainstreamed the use of the amphetamines they had used as servicemen. Vida Blue invited teammates to cocaine parties, Tim Raines used it to stay awake on the bench, and Will McEnaney snorted it bTrade Review"Stimulating. Clearly the most comprehensive 'baseball and drugs' book that I've read or am aware of. There are other books that cover specific scandals, such as BALCO, but none that dig as deeply into the history of the relationship between baseball and drugs."--Mitchell Nathanson, author of A People's History of Baseball"Nathan Michael Corzine goes past the mythology and digs deep to reveal a game splashed with spilled whiskey and tobacco stains from its origins, where substances of various stripes were valued for the supposed ability to help athletes play better."--Alternet"Corzine presents a more nuanced meaning of professional baseball's post steroid era. . . . Books like this one can help guide both scholars and fans toward appreciation, understanding, and perhaps even reconciliation with the game's past."--Journal of Sport History "A succinct, thoughtful, readable review of alcohol and drug abuse in baseball from 1870 to the present. Recommended." --Choice"Corzine's well-crafted chronology of the history of drug and alcohol use in Major League Baseball is a good read for fans and scholars alike. Team Chemistry offers new insights and analytic modes to address both of baseball's substance problems--its problem with both legal and illegal drugs and its problem of relying on the romanticized memory of the sport, rather than the reality of its clubs and players."--Sport in American History"Team Chemistry is a fascinating and compelling story of drugs in Major League baseball. Utilizing a vast array of sources and with great insight, Corzine traces the use of both legal and illicit drugs in a sport always thought of as our National Pastime. In the process, we gain a more nuanced and far deeper understanding of the mythology surrounding baseball and American culture."--David K. Wiggins, author of The Unlevel Playing Field: A Documentary History of the African American Experience in Sport

Read more less

Book SynopsisDisapproving scolds. Sexist condescension. Odd theories about the effect of exercise on reproductive organs. Though baseball began as a gender-neutral sport, girls and women of the nineteenth century faced many obstacles on their way to the diamond. Yet all-female nines took the field everywhere. Debra A. Shattuck pulls from newspaper accounts and hard-to-find club archives to reconstruct a forgotten era in baseball history. Her fascinating social history tracks women players who organized baseball clubs for their own enjoyment and even found roster spots on men''s teams. Entrepreneurs, meanwhile, packaged women''s teams as entertainment, organizing leagues and barnstorming tours. If the women faced financial exploitation and indignities like playing against men in women''s clothing, they and countless ballplayers like them nonetheless staked a claim to the nascent national pastime. Shattuck explores how the determination to take their turn at bat thrust female players into narrativTrade Review"This work fills a noteworthy gap in the scholarship and will be of importance to any individual interested in sport, women's history, and gender studies. Recommended."--Choice"It is safe to say that Bloomer Girls may be considered the definitive book on women's baseball in the nineteenth century. Shattuck's research shows on every page, and she masterfully decodes primary sources and constructs a satisfying answer for anyone who has ever wondered why baseball is a man's game."--Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society"Bloomer Girls would be a helpful resource for researchers interested in social history, particularly regarding gender roles and sports, and for baseball fans interested in the history of the sport."--FGS Forum"Shattuck sets out to discover how a gender-neutral game became so masculine by researching women's organized baseball from antebellum American through the turn of the century. . . . This volume belongs in many public library sports-history and gender-studies collections."--Booklist"Bloomer Girls is definitely worth your time."--MLB.com"Bloomer Girls is a thoughtful book for true baseball historians and those fans whose appreciation of the game includes its darker history. It is also a valuable source of material for those interested in the future of women's sports."--Illinois Times"Bloomer Girls: Women Baseball Pioneers fills a huge void in sports literature regarding women baseball players. . . . Shattuck’s book is definitely a must read for all baseball researchers, serious fans, those interested in the history of the game and gender historians."--Sport in American History"Debra Shattuck knocks it out of the park with her first book. . . . Definitely a must read for all baseball researchers, serious fans, those interested in the history of the game and gender historians."--Sport in American History "Bloomer Girls is a thoughtful book for true baseball historians and those fans whose appreciation of the game includes its darker history. It is also a valuable source of material for those interested in the future of women's sports."--Illinois Times "Bloomer Girls is significant in restoring females to their rightful place in America's baseball history." --Pacific Historical Review "Shatuck's work is in many ways an exemplar of sports history and the potential contributions studies of sport can make to other historiographies, including gender and national history." --Reviews in American History "This well-written work illuminates an understudied aspect of American women's history and deserves a wide readership." --The Journal of American History "Bloomer Girls makes an unprecedented contribution in its field (the endnotes alone are worth the price of admission). Anyone with a prior interest in women's baseball or the burgeoning field of 'Outsider Baseball'--which includes the non-MLB experiences of ethnic minorities, racially segregated leagues, and novelty baseball--must own this book."--John Thorn, Historian of Major League Baseball "Debra Shattuck has written a page-turner, uncovering a long-hidden backstory of America's national sport. There's formidable historical research here, embedded in lively writing about pioneering athletes, corrupt promoters, and formidable businessmen, who together reshaped understandings of the capacities of men and women, on the field and off. Give this important book to every baseball fan you know, (couch potatoes included)."--Linda K. Kerber, author of No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship "Not only does Debra Shattuck insert women back into the narrative of baseball history, but she also offers us the fullest account yet of how the early game threw varied gender meanings into sharp relief. A stunning achievement."--Benjamin G. Rader, author of Baseball: A History of America's Game "Paints a meticulous picture of the social and political forces which advanced the lie of baseball as 'a man's game,' and documents how Bloomer Girl baseball emerged, a benchmark for all who support equality."--Barbara Gregorich, author of Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"An entertaining tale of two cities with big league dreams and ambitions. Balancing civic identity and cohesion against unsustainable expenses and diverted funds is a circle most American cities have failed to square. While there are no 'solutions' to these challenges, Ehrlich analyzes the responses of Oakland and Kansas City in a balanced and informed way, offering lessons for other cities--and there are many of them--in similar positions."--Jerald Podair, author of City of Dreams: Dodger Stadium and the Birth of Modern Los Angeles"What a wonderful book for the sports fan or urban historian! Kansas City and Oakland were two second-class cities struggling for respect. This book tells the story of the competition between their big-league teams. Both baseball and football had exciting and high-profile rivalries, with expansion, free agency, the building of new stadiums, and strikes claiming attention in each town. The author also integrates the sports history with the dramas of the long 1960s--civil rights confrontations, labor troubles, cultural clashes over Vietnam, and urban problems. This is a great and informative read."--Bruce Kuklick, author of To Every Thing a Season: Shibe Park and Urban Philadelphia, 1909–1976

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Highly entertaining with useful appendices." --Spitball Magazine"Provides a wealth of detail about the origins of the Illinois game and the teams who played it from Chicago down south to Cairo and nearly every town in between." --St. Louis Post-Dispatch"A delightful collection of history and baseball anecdotes for both casual and serious baseball fans." --Illinois Times"Ballists, Dead Beats, and Muffins makes clear that there was a simplicity, innocence, and freshness to baseball in Illinois in these years, even as Sampson details the movement—probably inevitable—toward a more competitive and more professional level of play." --Third Coast Review"Effectively blends history and nostalgia, sparking an appreciation of the National pastime. . . . This 250-page gem by Robert D. Sampson is an exhaustive focus on baseball's early style and sweep when gentlemanly players, civic leaders, and hosts of spectators stressed the bliss more than the score." --Community Word“Detailed studies of baseball during these crucial years are rare, with ones that focus on a single state even more so. Bob Sampson’s Ballists, Dead Beats, and Muffins is thus both timely and valuable, confirming some long-accepted assumptions and forcing reexamination of others. Highly recommended!”--Peter Morris, author of Baseball Fever: Early Baseball in MichiganTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Prologue A Dying Ember First Inning Baseball Fever and Pioneers Second Inning Organizing Clubs, Funding, Travel, and the Game’s Rituals Third Inning Playing Fields, Gambling, and Injuries Fourth Inning The Game and Its Players Fifth Inning Sharing the Fun Sixth Inning Barriers of Race and Gender Seventh Inning Trouble in Baseball’s Eden Eighth Inning Representative Teams Ninth Inning The Thrill Departs Epilogue Ghosts Appendix A Illinois Baseball Teams, 1865-70 Appendix B Bloomington’s Fifth Ward School-Grounds Neighborhood Appendix C Illinois Baseball Players, 1865-70 Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisExamines the myths and the realities, symbols, and rituals of "America's favorite pastime." This book details the relationships among urban politics, communities, and baseball, exploring how debates over issues such as Sunday games, ballpark construction, and the promotion of the game were shaped by Progressive Era sensibilities.Trade Review"Riess asks and answers fundamentally important questions about urban America as well as baseball in the early twentieth century. . . . Touching Base, the most ambitious and exhaustive case study of urban professional baseball yet written, clearly demonstrates not only the vast potential for understanding American history through baseball, but also the value of utilizing sociological theory and municipal archives in researching baseball history."--Larry Gerlach, Journal of Sports History"Well-received in many quarters in its original version, Touching Base provides a massive fund of information extremely valuable to any baseball scholar. The bibliography and the opening essay on the state of baseball history alone justify this revised version."--Richard C. Crepeau, author of Baseball: America's Diamond Mine, 1919-1941"Touching Base not only tells the story of baseball in its formative period; it explains how the game fit into a much larger pattern of social and cultural development. The original edition of Touching Base was an important work of sport history, and the new revised edition adds even more to our knowledge of how and why baseball became our national pastime. This is fine history."—Elliott J. Gorn, author of The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting in America

Read more less

Book Synopsis How and why Americans chose baseball over its early rival, cricket, as the national pastimeIn discovering how and why Americans chose baseball over its early rival, cricket, as the national pastime, George B. Kirsch takes us back to amateur playing fields around the country to recreate the excitement of the early matches, the players, clubs, and their fans. As a narrative history,Baseball and Cricketplaces the growing popularity of the two sports within the social context of mid-nineteenth-century American cities. The book''s comparative analysis follows baseball''s transition from a leisure sport to a commercialized, professional enterprise and offers the first complete discussion of the early American cricket clubs.A volume in the series Sport and Society, edited by Benjamin G. Rader and Randy Roberts Trade Review"A unique comprehensive history of America's first organized team sports. Focusing on New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Newark, Kirsch is the first to combine a history and analysis of baseball and cricket, showing the unique relationship between the two, and their places in urban history. . . . This is a major work in the field of sport history." --Choice"Kirsch's account is highly engaging and quite edifying. . . . His analysis is keen, his prose readable, and his thesis fascinating. . . . Kirsch rescues from dusty archives the names of the important cricket teams (or rather clubs), their lineups, their statistics, and wonderfully vivid accounts of critical cricket matches that help provide a contemporary American audience scantly familiar with the game a sense of its excitement, its attraction."--Aethlon: Journal of Sports Literature"This is a marvelous book. It tells us much about who played the game, what sorts of persons they were, and gives us many details of early baseball, who won, and why, and what this meant to viewers of the game."--Journal of Social History

Read more less

Book SynopsisA revealing look at the history of women's exclusion from America's national pastimeTrade ReviewA Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2010. "Sharp, thoroughly researched examination of gender discrimination in [baseball].--Los Angeles Times"Throwing 'like a girl' is an age-old taunt, and Jennifer Ring has had enough of it."--Washington Post“An extraordinary account of the rejection of female players from baseball. . . . [Ring] searches for ways to reclaim baseball’s nickname, 'the people’s game,' and encourage females who want to play a game they are passionate about. Highly recommended.”--Choice"The story Ring tells is outrageous. Her title is accurate: baseball has been stolen from girls."--Women's Review of Books“An important work. . . . Ring traces over a 100 years of issues arising from individuals, cultural biases, legal arguments, and the like to develop a full picture.”--Cave 17.com"By examining the systematic exclusion of women from baseball, this compelling book goes into depth about a topic that most historians do not even question. With a gripping storyline and strong, clear prose, Stolen Bases contains some of the best sportswriting I have seen."--Susan K. Cahn, coeditor of Women and Sports in the United States: A Documentary Reader"This book blends history, political economy, sociology, and biography to form an engaging narrative about the place of women in baseball. Jennifer Ring offers fresh insights, focusing on the game's maternity and the development of efforts to preclude women from playing baseball or acknowledging their place in the game's past."--Adrian Burgos Jr., author of Playing America's Game: Baseball, Latinos, and the Color LineTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Prologue: Entitlement and Its Absence 1 1. Introduction: A Quick and Dirty History of Baseball 15 2. The Girls' Game 31 3. A. G. Spalding and America's Needs 47 4. Enter Softball 59 5. How Baseball Became Manly and White 73 6. American Womanhood and Athletics 91 7. Cricket 102 8. Stolen Bases 116 9. Collegiate Women's Baseball 134 10. The Invisibility of Bias 151 Epilogue: What Does Equality Look Like? 169 Notes 183 Index 197

Read more less

Book SynopsisDefies conventional wisdom to explain why the unanimous Supreme Court opinion authored by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, which gave rise to Major League Baseball's exemption from antitrust law, was correct given the circumstances of the time.Trade ReviewLarry Ritter Book Award, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), 2015. Finalist, Seymour Medal, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), 2015. David J. Langum Sr. Prize for American Legal History/Biography, Langum Charitable Trust, 2014. "Grow explains that the afterlife of Federal Baseball is more remarkable than the conclusions in the case itself. With careful and measured scholarship, Grow urges later reader of Federal Baseball to recognize that the case was heard before widespread interstate radio coverage, and before the broad interpretation of 'commerce' in the New Deal decisions."--Western Legal History"Using newly released attorney correspondence, court records, and newspaper accounts of the time, Grow presents in stunning detail the background, characters, arguments, events, tactics, (and mistakes) leading to the Federal Baseball decision. showing that 'many of the common criticisms. . . are unjust, as the decision was consistent with the prevailing judicial precedents of the day'. . . . Recommended.'"--Choice"Federal Baseball, the shorthand name of the case, is still the law of land. Here is a baseball book in which the major on-field action is the serving of various contract-jumping players with court orders. But if a reader is interested in how the business of baseball developed, the case is crucial; and Baseball on Trial can explain how and why."--Nine "Grow's book is impressively comprehensive and exhaustive. . . . for the reader interested in a comprehensive account of a seminal moment in baseball's legal history, Grow's Baseball on Trial is an excellent choice."--Law and History Review"Grow undoubtedly succeeds in shining a light on the buildup to and background of the Federal Baseball decision."--Sport in American History"[A] thoughtful and provocative analysis of one of the most controversial topics in sports law: Baseball's antitrust exemption. Grow adroitly connects recent disclosures from the Baseball Hall of Fame to advance his argument that the Federal Baseball holding made much more sense ninety years ago than contemporary commentators tend to regard it. As baseball's antitrust exemption continues to face legal challenges--including whether the Oakland A's can move to San Jose--Grow's book will undoubtedly play an influential role."--Michael McCann, Sports Illustrated legal analyst"The lawsuits arising from the Federal League's challenge to Major League Baseball and their aftermath defined much of the way baseball has evolved over the past century. Bolstered by original research, Grow explains both the broader picture and the intriguing behind-the-scenes machinations, and he does so in a clear and entertaining fashion."-- Daniel R. Levitt, author of The Battle that Forged Modern Baseball: The Federal League Challenge and Its Legacy"An outstanding book based on previously unused materials, Baseball on Trial makes a truly significant contribution to the fields of baseball and the law, sports law, antitrust law, and legal history. Anyone discussing the trilogy of Supreme Court cases that created baseball's antitrust exemption needs to read this book."--Edmund P. Edmonds, co-editor of Baseball and Antitrust: The Legislative History

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"These essays deliver intelligent analysis, brilliant insights, wit, laugh-out-loud hilarity, and a disarmingly serious look at David Zang's passion for sport and its place in his life and ours."--Richard Crepeau, author of NFL Football: A History of America's New National Pastime"Funny, poignant, smart, and crisply written, I Wore Babe Ruth's Hat reminds us why we care so much about sports--and why we keep telling its stories."--Aram Goudsouzian, author of King of the Court: Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution

Read more less

Book SynopsisBaseball is much more than the national pastime. It has become an emblem of America itself. From its initial popularity in the mid-nineteenth century, the game has reflected national values and beliefs and promoted what it means to be an American. Stories abound that illustrate baseball's significance in eradicating racial barriers, bringing neighborhoods together, building civic pride, and creating on the field of play an instructive civics lesson for immigrants on the national character.In A People's History of Baseball, Mitchell Nathanson probes the less well-known but no less meaningful other side of baseball: episodes not involving equality, patriotism, heroism, and virtuous capitalism, but power--how it is obtained, and how it perpetuates itself. Through the growth and development of baseball Nathanson shows that, if only we choose to look for it, we can see the petty power struggles as well as the large and consequential ones that have likewise defined our nation.By offering a fTrade Review"Chronicles the historic power struggles among those seeking to define and regulate pro baseball. . . . A fine book."--Library Journal"A People’s History of Baseball provides vigorous and fascinating challenges to the ways in which fans have related to a game that [Nathanson] says has been ‘virtually synonymous’ with America for well over a century.”--The Boston Globe"Nathanson's arguments are intriguing throughout."--The Journal of American History"Nathanson has researched thoroughly, writes persuasively, and does not shy away from challenging even the most revered narrative in baseball: Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson, and the integration of Major League Baseball."--Journal of Sport History"A valuable and vibrant contribution to an expanding scholarly literature on American baseball."--The Historian"Mitchell Nathanson's A People's History of Baseball is a historical corrective. It examines Major League Baseball (MLB) through an "alternative lens" (219), one that provides a useful, critical perspective. The book's six chapters cover a lot of ground. A thoughtful, substantive exploration of some aspects of MLB's unsavory past and present, A People's History of Baseball is a welcome alternative to the far more numerous baseball romances published every spring."--Nine"An excellent social critique that tells provocative and overlooked back stories about baseball in American history and culture. A People's History of Baseball goes beyond the game itself and examines larger issues of nationalism, mass media, legal history, and race relations."--Robert Elias, author of The Empire Strikes Out: How Baseball Sold U.S. Foreign Policy and Promoted the American Way Abroad"Armed with convincing and creative arguments that challenge the many myths surrounding America's national pastime, A People's History of Baseball provides ample fodder for debate among sport history scholars as well as general readers interested in exploring the game's meaningful role in shaping the American identity."--Samuel O. Regalado, author of Viva Baseball! Latin Major Leaguers and Their Special HungerTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Prologue xi 1 A Game of Their Own 1 2 The Sovereign Nation of Baseball 28 3 Rickey, Race, and "All Deliberate Speed" 67 4 Tearing Down the Walls 108 5 "Wait 'Til Next Year" and the Denial of History 146 6 The Storytellers 180 Notes 221 Bibliography 261 Index 271

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 2007, the Mitchell Report shocked traditionalists who were appalled that drugs had corrupted the pure game of baseball. Nathan Corzine rescues the story of baseball''s relationship with drugs from the sepia-toned tyranny of such myths. In Team Chemistry , he reveals a game splashed with spilled whiskey and tobacco stains from the day the first pitch was thrown. Indeed, throughout the game''s history, stars and scrubs alike partook of a pharmacopeia that helped them stay on the field and cope off of it: In 1889, Pud Galvin tried a testosterone-derived elixir to help him pile up some of his 646 complete games. Sandy Koufax needed Codeine and an anti-inflammatory used on horses to pitch through his late-career elbow woes. Players returning from World War II mainstreamed the use of the amphetamines they had used as servicemen. Vida Blue invited teammates to cocaine parties, Tim Raines used it to stay awake on the bench, and Will McEnaney snorted it bTrade Review"Stimulating. Clearly the most comprehensive 'baseball and drugs' book that I've read or am aware of. There are other books that cover specific scandals, such as BALCO, but none that dig as deeply into the history of the relationship between baseball and drugs."--Mitchell Nathanson, author of A People's History of Baseball"Nathan Michael Corzine goes past the mythology and digs deep to reveal a game splashed with spilled whiskey and tobacco stains from its origins, where substances of various stripes were valued for the supposed ability to help athletes play better."--Alternet"Corzine presents a more nuanced meaning of professional baseball's post steroid era. . . . Books like this one can help guide both scholars and fans toward appreciation, understanding, and perhaps even reconciliation with the game's past."--Journal of Sport History "A succinct, thoughtful, readable review of alcohol and drug abuse in baseball from 1870 to the present. Recommended." --Choice"Corzine's well-crafted chronology of the history of drug and alcohol use in Major League Baseball is a good read for fans and scholars alike. Team Chemistry offers new insights and analytic modes to address both of baseball's substance problems--its problem with both legal and illegal drugs and its problem of relying on the romanticized memory of the sport, rather than the reality of its clubs and players."--Sport in American History"Team Chemistry is a fascinating and compelling story of drugs in Major League baseball. Utilizing a vast array of sources and with great insight, Corzine traces the use of both legal and illicit drugs in a sport always thought of as our National Pastime. In the process, we gain a more nuanced and far deeper understanding of the mythology surrounding baseball and American culture."--David K. Wiggins, author of The Unlevel Playing Field: A Documentary History of the African American Experience in Sport

Read more less

Book SynopsisDisapproving scolds. Sexist condescension. Odd theories about the effect of exercise on reproductive organs. Though baseball began as a gender-neutral sport, girls and women of the nineteenth century faced many obstacles on their way to the diamond. Yet all-female nines took the field everywhere. Debra A. Shattuck pulls from newspaper accounts and hard-to-find club archives to reconstruct a forgotten era in baseball history. Her fascinating social history tracks women players who organized baseball clubs for their own enjoyment and even found roster spots on men''s teams. Entrepreneurs, meanwhile, packaged women''s teams as entertainment, organizing leagues and barnstorming tours. If the women faced financial exploitation and indignities like playing against men in women''s clothing, they and countless ballplayers like them nonetheless staked a claim to the nascent national pastime. Shattuck explores how the determination to take their turn at bat thrust female players into narrativTrade Review"This work fills a noteworthy gap in the scholarship and will be of importance to any individual interested in sport, women's history, and gender studies. Recommended."--Choice"It is safe to say that Bloomer Girls may be considered the definitive book on women's baseball in the nineteenth century. Shattuck's research shows on every page, and she masterfully decodes primary sources and constructs a satisfying answer for anyone who has ever wondered why baseball is a man's game."--Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society"Bloomer Girls would be a helpful resource for researchers interested in social history, particularly regarding gender roles and sports, and for baseball fans interested in the history of the sport."--FGS Forum"Shattuck sets out to discover how a gender-neutral game became so masculine by researching women's organized baseball from antebellum American through the turn of the century. . . . This volume belongs in many public library sports-history and gender-studies collections."--Booklist"Bloomer Girls is definitely worth your time."--MLB.com"Bloomer Girls is a thoughtful book for true baseball historians and those fans whose appreciation of the game includes its darker history. It is also a valuable source of material for those interested in the future of women's sports."--Illinois Times"Bloomer Girls: Women Baseball Pioneers fills a huge void in sports literature regarding women baseball players. . . . Shattuck’s book is definitely a must read for all baseball researchers, serious fans, those interested in the history of the game and gender historians."--Sport in American History"Debra Shattuck knocks it out of the park with her first book. . . . Definitely a must read for all baseball researchers, serious fans, those interested in the history of the game and gender historians."--Sport in American History "Bloomer Girls is a thoughtful book for true baseball historians and those fans whose appreciation of the game includes its darker history. It is also a valuable source of material for those interested in the future of women's sports."--Illinois Times "Bloomer Girls is significant in restoring females to their rightful place in America's baseball history." --Pacific Historical Review "Shatuck's work is in many ways an exemplar of sports history and the potential contributions studies of sport can make to other historiographies, including gender and national history." --Reviews in American History "This well-written work illuminates an understudied aspect of American women's history and deserves a wide readership." --The Journal of American History "Bloomer Girls makes an unprecedented contribution in its field (the endnotes alone are worth the price of admission). Anyone with a prior interest in women's baseball or the burgeoning field of 'Outsider Baseball'--which includes the non-MLB experiences of ethnic minorities, racially segregated leagues, and novelty baseball--must own this book."--John Thorn, Historian of Major League Baseball "Debra Shattuck has written a page-turner, uncovering a long-hidden backstory of America's national sport. There's formidable historical research here, embedded in lively writing about pioneering athletes, corrupt promoters, and formidable businessmen, who together reshaped understandings of the capacities of men and women, on the field and off. Give this important book to every baseball fan you know, (couch potatoes included)."--Linda K. Kerber, author of No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship "Not only does Debra Shattuck insert women back into the narrative of baseball history, but she also offers us the fullest account yet of how the early game threw varied gender meanings into sharp relief. A stunning achievement."--Benjamin G. Rader, author of Baseball: A History of America's Game "Paints a meticulous picture of the social and political forces which advanced the lie of baseball as 'a man's game,' and documents how Bloomer Girl baseball emerged, a benchmark for all who support equality."--Barbara Gregorich, author of Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"An entertaining tale of two cities with big league dreams and ambitions. Balancing civic identity and cohesion against unsustainable expenses and diverted funds is a circle most American cities have failed to square. While there are no 'solutions' to these challenges, Ehrlich analyzes the responses of Oakland and Kansas City in a balanced and informed way, offering lessons for other cities--and there are many of them--in similar positions."--Jerald Podair, author of City of Dreams: Dodger Stadium and the Birth of Modern Los Angeles"What a wonderful book for the sports fan or urban historian! Kansas City and Oakland were two second-class cities struggling for respect. This book tells the story of the competition between their big-league teams. Both baseball and football had exciting and high-profile rivalries, with expansion, free agency, the building of new stadiums, and strikes claiming attention in each town. The author also integrates the sports history with the dramas of the long 1960s--civil rights confrontations, labor troubles, cultural clashes over Vietnam, and urban problems. This is a great and informative read."--Bruce Kuklick, author of To Every Thing a Season: Shibe Park and Urban Philadelphia, 1909–1976

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Highly entertaining with useful appendices." --Spitball Magazine"Provides a wealth of detail about the origins of the Illinois game and the teams who played it from Chicago down south to Cairo and nearly every town in between." --St. Louis Post-Dispatch"A delightful collection of history and baseball anecdotes for both casual and serious baseball fans." --Illinois Times"Ballists, Dead Beats, and Muffins makes clear that there was a simplicity, innocence, and freshness to baseball in Illinois in these years, even as Sampson details the movement—probably inevitable—toward a more competitive and more professional level of play." --Third Coast Review"Effectively blends history and nostalgia, sparking an appreciation of the National pastime. . . . This 250-page gem by Robert D. Sampson is an exhaustive focus on baseball's early style and sweep when gentlemanly players, civic leaders, and hosts of spectators stressed the bliss more than the score." --Community Word“Detailed studies of baseball during these crucial years are rare, with ones that focus on a single state even more so. Bob Sampson’s Ballists, Dead Beats, and Muffins is thus both timely and valuable, confirming some long-accepted assumptions and forcing reexamination of others. Highly recommended!”--Peter Morris, author of Baseball Fever: Early Baseball in MichiganTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Prologue A Dying Ember First Inning Baseball Fever and Pioneers Second Inning Organizing Clubs, Funding, Travel, and the Game’s Rituals Third Inning Playing Fields, Gambling, and Injuries Fourth Inning The Game and Its Players Fifth Inning Sharing the Fun Sixth Inning Barriers of Race and Gender Seventh Inning Trouble in Baseball’s Eden Eighth Inning Representative Teams Ninth Inning The Thrill Departs Epilogue Ghosts Appendix A Illinois Baseball Teams, 1865-70 Appendix B Bloomington’s Fifth Ward School-Grounds Neighborhood Appendix C Illinois Baseball Players, 1865-70 Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisAfter the Major League Baseball players walk off the field, washout ball player Jake Standen gets a second chance to chase his dream. But Jake and his new teammates have just six weeks to learn how to play like never before.Trade Review"Baseball famously is the one sport played without a clock. Brett Baker's timeless and timeful novel Chasing the Big Leagues is steeped in pastoral passion of the national pastime. This book is in love with the amateur, in love with the pure love of the game that lies in the heart as the clock runs down over the far horizon of the furthest outfield and the sun is always nostalgically setting, turning the diamond into a bright enduring tarp of diamond-tipped and dusty words. This book is a gem, and Baker is the next new Natural."—Michael Martone, author of Michael Martone and The Moon Over Wapakoneta"Brett Baker's Chasing the Big Leagues is set during the now famous 1994–95 baseball strike and the protagonist is called up to play as a scab for the Toronto Blue Jays.Baker knows his baseball . . . the hitting, the fielding, the feel of the ball, what makes a team tick, the coaching.The book is filled with wonderful and arcane baseball details, and it's a good read, a page turner, but of course the setting is during one of the worst of times for baseball so there's a strong element of melancholy in it, too.I strongly recommend it."—John Keeble, author of Yellowfish and Broken Ground

Read more less

Book SynopsisCrammed full of rare images and little-known anecdotes, Hoosier Beginnings tells the story of Indiana University athletics from its founding in 1867 to the interwar period.

Read more less