Baseball Books

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.

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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

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Book SynopsisThe definitive biography of Yogi Berra, the New York Yankees icon, winner of 13 World Series championships, and the most-quoted player in baseball history

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Book SynopsisThe definitive and revealing biography of Chicago Cubs legend Ernie Banks, one of America's most iconic, beloved, and misunderstood baseball players, by acclaimed journalist Ron Rapoport.

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Book SynopsisUsing various (and completely subjective) criteria including lifetime statistics, personal and professional contributions to the game at large, sportsmanship, character, popularity with the fans, and more, sports writer Derek Gentile ranks the best players of all time from 1 to 1,000. The selection spans the generations from Edward Cocky Collins (1906-1930) to Miguel Cabrera (2003-present). Dozens of Negro league players are also included, as well as sidebars on the greatest Japanese players, women players, and pre-historic players from the time before stats and other information was formally recorded. Each entry includes the player''s name, positions played, teams played for, and years played, as well as lifetime stats and a biography of the player including his great (and not-so-great) moments and little-known facts. Baseball''s Best 1,000 is sure to spark controversy and debate among fans.

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Book Synopsis In this nostalgic memoir, a son provides a unique perspective on his legendary father–the baseball star, Yogi Berra. Yogi Berra was the backbone of the New York Yankees through ten World Series Championships. In My Dad, Yogi is Dale Berra chronicles his unshakeable bond with his father, going back to his suburban New Jersey upbringing, his parents’ enduring relationship, and his Dad’s formidable career. Following in his Dad’s footsteps, Dale came up with the Pittsburgh Pirates, contributing to their 1979 championship season and emerging as one of baseball's most talented young players before eventually uniting with his Dad in the Yankee dugout. Yogi supported his son throughout his highs of his careers and lows of a drug addiction, eventually staging an intervention that would save Dale's life, and draw the entire family even closer. My Dad, Yogi is Dale's tribute to hi

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Book SynopsisOf the many storylines to the Chicago Cubs incredible 2016 season was the late career renaissance of David Ross, the 39-year-old journeyman player affectionately known to his Cubs teammates as Grandpa Rossy. Ross became the unlikely heart and soul of the championship team, who finally broke the near 100-year Cubs curse. At the end of the Cubs victorious game seven--in which Ross entered the game in the 5th inning and proceeded to hit a crucial home run (becoming the oldest player to homer in World Series History), he was carried off the field by his teammates. Ross''s late career blossoming and role as a Cubs mentor has been one of the defining sports stories of 2016, inspiring a write-in campaign for him for the All Star game, an endless series of feature stories and becoming the nightly talk of TV analysts and sports radio. This book would be memoir of Ross'' career -- written with veteran collaborator Don Yaeger -- with the championship run at Wrigley this year as the cap

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Book Synopsis'Maybe the good Lord was just waiting for me to put on the pinstripes.'When Joe Torre was fired as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1995, he thought his career in baseball was over. After more than three decades and4,200 games as a player and manager, one thing had always eluded him--winning a World Series.  He had all but given up his dream when the New York Yankees made him an offer to manage their 1996 club.  Encouraged by his wife and others, he accepted, and so began one of the greatest seasons in the fabled history of the New York Yankee franchise and one of the most inspiring, heartwarming stories in all ofbaseball.  Here is the ultimate insider's record of that unforgettable season by the man whose personal struggles captured the hearts and imaginations of fanseverywhere. Tough, gritty, but always fair and honest, Torre vividly reveals how he turned a potentially volatile mix of talented youngsters such as A

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisRHYTHMS OF THE GAME: THE LINK BETWEEN MUSICAL ARTISTRY AND ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE

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Book SynopsisBaseball has had its fair share of one-and-out champions, but few clubs have dominated the sport for any great length of time. Given the level of competition and the expansive length of the season, it is a remarkable accomplishment for a team to make multiple World Series appearances in a short timespan. From the Baltimore Orioles of the 1800s who would go to any length to winincluding physically accosting opponentsto the 1934 Cardinals known as the Gashouse Gang for their rough tactics and determination, and on to George Steinbrenner's dominant Yankees of the late twentieth century, baseball's greatest teams somehow found a way to win year after year. Spanning three centuries of the game, Baseball's Dynasties and the Players Who Built Them examines twenty-two of baseball's most iconic teams. Each chapter not only chronicles the club's era of supremacy, but also provides an in-depth look at the players who helped make their teams great. Nearly two hundred player profiles are included, Trade ReviewWeeks quickly engages the reader by taking a controversial stand, redefining what is considered a baseball dynasty and calling the 1996–2000 Yankee squads the 'last bona fide dynasty.' This makes for spirited debate, particularly since his criteria exclude the 2010–2014 San Francisco Giants teams that won three World Series championships in a five-year span but include the Atlanta Braves teams of the early to mid-1990s (his guidelines include 'the presence of several Hall of Fame–caliber players' and 'a relatively stable lineup during the period of dominance'). After this initial confusion and some overdrawn player bios, Weeks gets to the crux of a comprehensive book that’s laid out so well it suits the novice fan as well as the diehard who still reads box scores. Weeks nicely encapsulates lots of data in practical prose, capturing the swashbuckling mood of baseball’s early years with clever phrases ('ill-fated Roanoke Magicians who disappeared from the Virginia league'). Weeks avoids the peril of catering strictly to trivia fans, but his book can still serve as a quick reference, filled with a long list of notable players rarely mentioned outside their local team lore. * Publishers Weekly *In Baseball’s Dynasties and the Players Who Built Them, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) member, author, and baseball enthusiast Jonathan Weeks provides a detailed yet approachable look at some of the most successful teams in Major League Baseball’s (MLB) history.... Baseball’s Dynasties and the Players Who Built Them is well researched, packed with interesting stories, and written in highly accessible prose. * Journal of Sport History *The history of the major leagues is writ largely by its greatest teams, and Jon Weeks is a tour guide with a time machine. -- Rob Neyer, author of Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball LegendsAn enjoyable and entertaining insight into baseball’s greatest dynasties. Jonathan Weeks’ easy-to-read study of the teams, from the boardroom to the ballfield, is a fascinating look at the game and its many colorful characters. -- Gary Bedingfield, founder and editor, Baseball in WartimeTable of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Baltimore Orioles: 1894–1897 Chapter 2: Pittsburgh Pirates: 1901–1903 Chapter 3 Chicago Cubs: 1906–1910 Chapter 4 Philadelphia Athletics: 1910–1914 Chapter 5 Boston Red Sox: 1915–1918 Chapter 6: New York Giants: 1921–1924 Chapter 7: New York Yankees: 1926–1928 Chapter 8: Philadelphia Athletics: 1929–1931 Chapter 9: St. Louis Cardinals: 1930–1934 Chapter 10: New York Yankees: 1936–1939 Chapter 11: New York Yankees: 1949–1953 Chapter 12: Brooklyn Dodgers: 1952–1956 Chapter 13: Los Angeles Dodgers: 1963–1966 Chapter 14: St. Louis Cardinals: 1964–1968 Chapter 15: Baltimore Orioles: 1966–1971 Chapter 16: Oakland Athletics: 1972–1974 Chapter 17: Cincinnati Reds: 1972–1976 Chapter 18: New York Yankees: 1976–1978 Chapter 19: Oakland Athletics: 1988–1990 Chapter 20: Toronto Blue Jays: 1991–1993 Chapter 21: Atlanta Braves: 1991–1996 Chapter 22: New York Yankees: 1996–2000 Chapter 23: Honorable Mentions Bibliography Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisOn a chilly Sunday, December 7, 1941, major league baseball's owners gathered in Chicago for their annual winter meetings, just two months after one of baseball's greatest seasons. For the owners, the attack on Pearl Harbor that morning was also an attack on baseball. They feared a complete shutdown of the coming 1942 season and worried about players they might lose to military service. But with the support of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the national pastime continued.The Nats and the Grays: How Baseball in the Nation's Capital Survived WWII and Changed the Game Forever examines the impact of the war on the two teams in Washington, DCthe Nationals of the American League and the Homestead Grays of the Negro Leaguesas well as the impact of the war on major league baseball as a whole. Each chapter is devoted to a wartime year, beginning with 1941 and ending with the return of peacetime in 1946, including the exciting American League pennant races of 1942-1945. This account details hTrade ReviewThe Nats are breeding a new generation of homegrown supporters. . . .In their new book, David E. Hubler and Joshua H. Drazen chronicle the history of baseball in the capital during World War II. . .I did learn a few things from this book. Franklin Roosevelt, for example, was a great baseball fan who managed the team at Groton School and helped raise the American flag at Griffith Stadium on opening day in 1917. * The Washington Post *Anyone who thinks Major League baseball during the Second World War was dull, amateurish and devoid of truly exceptional play because most of the stars were off fighting the war should pick up a copy of The Nats and the Grays, How Baseball in the Nation’s Capital Survived WWII and Changed the Game Forever to be disabused of such erroneous notions. . . . This extraordinary history by David E. Hubler and Joshua H. Drazen is filled with colorful stories and previously unknown anecdotes that can fuel a hot stove league for weeks, if not months. . . .[The] anecdotes . . . are told in sharp, unadorned prose devoid of sports jargon and a plethora of statistics, but often with insight and humor as befitting such an outstanding sports history. It belongs on the library shelves of all baseball fans and World War II history buffs. * East Orlando Post *History buffs and baseball fans get a lesson in an often overshadowed story of how World War II affected America’s favorite pastime. Readers get a look at the relationship FDR had with the game, the missions players took on during the war and the Negro League’s struggle for equality. * Northern Virginia Magazine *A compelling examination of the impact of the war on Washington, DC's two baseball teams as well as on major league baseball as a whole. * University of New Hampshire Magazine *With co-author David E. Hubler, Drazen gives a beautifully detailed look at the Nationals of the American League and the Homestead Grays of the Negro League baseball teams during World War II in Washington. * Medill Magazine *The Nats and the Grays: How Baseball in the Nation’s Capital Survived WWII and Changed the Game Forever examines the impact of the war on the two teams in Washington, DC—the Nationals of the American League and the Homestead Grays of the Negro Leagues—as well as the impact of the war on major league baseball as a whole. This account details how the strong friendship between FDR and Nationals team owner Clark Griffith kept the game alive throughout the war; the constant uncertainties the game faced each season as the military draft, federal mandates, national rationing, and other wartime regulations affected the sport; and the Negro Leagues’ struggle for recognition, solvency, and integration. The Nats and the Grays also details crucial events on the home front, such as the creation of the GI Bill, the internment of Japanese Americans, labor strikes, and the fight for racial equality. World War II buffs, Negro League historians, baseball enthusiasts, and fans of the present-day Washington Nationals will all find this book on wartime baseball a fascinating and informative read. * DeWitt Clinton Alumni Association *Whether you are a Baby Boomer whose mom threw out your baseball cards, or a DC area Millennials with interest sky high for the current Washington Nationals with its heaps of young talent and scurrying around the bases, larger than life-sized Presidents, there is a new book for you. . . .Based upon a recent rich, lively, deeply enthralling interview, Hubler’s book is no dry history or ribald fiction. It is a special book about rarely written events from a key time now fading from us. * DC Metro Theater Arts *The story of how Major League Baseball survived World War II is often little more than an interruption in the historical narrative, but David Hubler and Joshua Drazen provide a compelling tale of two Washington teams—the Homestead Grays and the Washington Nationals—set skillfully against the backdrop of wartime DC. Baseball provided not only much needed entertainment but its own unlikely heroes fighting for victory. This story is one that needed telling and it makes great reading. -- Ted Leavengood, managing editor of seamheads.comAn important contribution to baseball, Washington Senators, and American history. With clarity and insight, Hubler and Drazen provide the full story of baseball's role in the nation's capital during a critical period in the twentieth century. -- Richard Zamoff, director of the Jackie Robinson ProjectBaseball remains our national pastime because it is the only sport that honors its past. A significant part of that past—the years of World War II in Washington, DC—are brought to life in vivid prose by David Hubler and Joshua Drazen in The Nats and the Grays. The authors seamlessly weave together the stories of those troubled seasons with the events and mood of the war years and the first steps toward the racial integration of the major leagues. A powerful performance. -- Stanley Cohen, award-winning newspaper and magazine journalist, author of The Game They Played and A Magic Summer: The Amazin’ Story of the 1969 New York MetsA meticulously researched and wonderfully written account of a tumultuous time in baseball and America. This book makes a great addition to every serious fan's baseball library. -- Hal Bock, retired Associated Press columnistDavid E. Hubler and Joshua H. Drazen’s The Nats and the Grays is a colorful and most satisfying history of modern baseball in Washington, DC. This book is both richly detailed and genuinely insightful—a perfect combination for those of us who love reading about our favorite game. -- Paul Dickson, author of Bill Veek: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick and The Dickson Baseball DictionaryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Preface Chapter One 1941: BP – Before Pearl Harbor Chapter Two 1942: Changing Uniforms Chapter Three 1943: Coming Up Just Short Chapter Four 1944: Meet Me in St. Louie, Bluege Chapter Five 1945: Rounding Third and Heading Home Afterword 1946: Extra Innings Notes Index About The Authors

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Book SynopsisIn celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues, this book honors the life of Effa Manley, the trailblazing female co-owner of baseball’s Newark Eagles. The first woman inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, there was no one like Effa Manley in the sports world of the 1930s and 1940s. She was a sophisticated woman who owned a baseball team. She never shrank from going head to head with men, who dominated the ranks of sports executives. That her life story remained unchronicled for so long can only be attributed to one thing: her team, the Newark Eagles, belonged to the Negro Leagues.In Queen of the Negro Leagues: Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles, Negro Leagues Centennial Edition, James Overmyer brings to light new details regarding Effa Manley’s fascinating story, including previously-unknown information about her childhood and family. Overmyer wonderfully portrays Effa Manley’s trailblazing life, her championship baseball team, and a thriving black community in Newark that took the Eagles into their hearts. In addition, this book contains updates regarding the Negro Leagues, its talented rank of players, and Manley’s induction into the Hall of Fame.This important work shines the spotlight on a previously unsung segment of baseball history. Drawing extensively from Eagle team records and Manley’s scrapbook, Queen of the Negro Leagues is the definitive biography of a groundbreaking female sports executive.

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Book SynopsisIn Whispers of the Gods, bestselling author Peter Golenbock brings to life baseball greats from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s through timeless stories told straight from the players themselves. Like the enduring classic The Glory of Their Times, this book features the reminiscences of baseball legends, pulled from hundreds of hours of taped interviews with the author. Roy Campanella talks about life in the Negro Leagues before coming up to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Ted Williams recounts why he believes Shoeless Joe Jackson belongs in the Hall of Fame. Tom Sturdivant provides vivid memories of Casey Stengel, Mickey Mantle, and other Yankee icons. Other voices include Phil Rizzuto, Jim Bouton, Monte Irvin, Stan Musial, Ron Santo, Rex Barney, Ellis Clary, Roger Maris, Ed Froelich, Marty Marion, Jim Brosnan, Gene Conley, and Kirby Higbe.The players interviewed were All-Stars, Hall of Famers, and heroes to many, and their impact on the national pastime is still seen to this day. Baseball history comes alive through the stories shared in Whispers of the Gods, offering a fascinating account of the golden age of baseball. Table of ContentsForeword, by John ThornPrefaceChapter 1: Jim BoutonChapter 2: Ed FroelichChapter 3: Marty MarionChapter 4: Rex BarneyChapter 5: Stan MusialChapter 6: Tom SturdivantChapter 7: Jim BrosnanChapter 8: Ted WilliamsChapter 9: Gene ConleyChapter 10: Kirby HigbeChapter 11: Phil RizzutoChapter 12: Ron SantoChapter 13: Ellis ClaryChapter 14: Roy CampanellaChapter 15: Roger MarisChapter 16: Monte IrvinChapter 17: Jim BoutonAbout the Author

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Book SynopsisThe candid autobiography of all-star pitcher “Sudden Sam” McDowell, whose alcohol-fueled life quickly and famously spiraled out of control, and his ultimate redemption as a counselor for other athletes suffering from addiction. Sam McDowell seemed to have it all. Considered by many to be the next Sandy Koufax when he signed with the Cleveland Indians, Sam boasted one of the fastest arms in major league baseball. But on the inside, he was playing in an alcoholic fog, beset by addiction, depression, narcissism, and thoughts of suicide. The Saga of Sudden Sam: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of Sam McDowell is the fascinating autobiography of the six-time American League all-star pitcher and self-admitted “worst drunk in baseball.” Sam holds nothing back, sharing the pressures he felt as a young baseball phenom, his frustrations over a lack of coaching to help develop his talent, the pitfalls of his dangerous alcoholic lifestyle, and his attempted suicide. When “Sudden Sam” finally hit rock bottom, certain he had been defeated by alcoholism, he instead found hope, rehabilitation, and sobriety. After extensive education and training, he emerged as the first successful counselor in major league baseball. Sam helped to turn around the lives of players who, just like him, had fallen into the abyss of addiction or faced psychological and emotional problems that were destroying their careers. With details of his own severe battles with depression and addiction told alongside the struggles of players who came to him for help, The Saga of Sudden Sam offers special insight into the longstanding addiction issues that plague Major League Baseball. It also provides understanding and hope to anyone struggling with addiction and shows that recovery is attainable.Trade ReviewI've known Sam since 1962 when I was a 17 year old assistant clubhouse manager for the Angels. Of all the players I've known throughout the years I've respected Sam the most. He has been a very close friend, mentor and literally saved my life. To know him and see him turn his life around and save so many hundreds of players’ lives is truly a miracle -- Bob Case, business manager for Casey Stengel and Mickey Rooney

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Book SynopsisNo one sees baseball like Joe Maddon. He sees it through his trademark glasses and irrepressible wit. Raised in the "shot and beer" town of Hazleton, PA, and forged by 15 years in the minors, Maddon over 19 seasons in Tampa Bay, Chicago, and Anaheim has become one of the most successful, most colorful, and most quoted managers in Major League Baseball. He is a workplace culture expert, having engineered two of the most stunning turnarounds in the past quarter century: taking the Rays from the worst record in baseball one year to the World Series the next and leading the Cubs to their first World Series title in 108 years.Like his teams, Maddon defies convention. He is part strategist, part philosopher, part sports psychologist, and part motivational coach. In THE BOOK OF JOE, Maddon gives readers unique insights into the game, including the tension between art and data, the changing role of managers as front offices gain power, why the honeymoon with the Cubs did not last, and what it's like to manage the modern player, including stars such as Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Yu Darvish, and Kris Bryant.But you expect even more from a manager who meditates daily, admires Twain, and has only one rule when it comes to a team dress code: "If you think you look hot, wear it!" And Maddon delivers. Built on-old school values and new-school methods, his wisdom applies beyond the dugout. His mantras about leadership, mentorship, team building, and communication are meditations on life, not just baseball. Among those mantras are: "Do simple better." "Try not to suck." "Don't ever permit the pressure to exceed the pleasure." "See it with first-time eyes." "Tell me what you think, not what you've heard."THE BOOK OF JOE is Maddon at his uniquely holistic best. It is a memoir of a fascinating baseball journey, an insider's look at a changing game, and a guidebook on leadership and life.

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Book Synopsis"Steroids are ruining the game of baseball. It has faced no more serious threat since gamblers gained control of the World Series in 1919." Or are we overreacting? The problem of steroids, recreational drugs, and other performance enhancers is one of the fundamental issues facing not only baseball but all of sports and society. With pundits pointing fingers and former players naming names, a drug-induced McCarthyism is tarring some of the greatest players ever to take the field. In The Juice, Will Carroll, an acknowledged authority on baseball conditioning and injuries, calls for a scientific, reasoned approach to the steroids problem. He first explains the science of steroids and other drugs, describes how athletes are tested, considers the scientific evidence of effects and side effects, and, most important, analyzes whether and how these drugs impact the game. He explores the grey area of legal supplements, covers the BALCO story, and speculates on the next generation of performance enhancers. And he profiles the motivations and experiences of professional players, student athletes, and baseball trainers. Carroll has interviewed hundreds of players, executives, owners, and experts. His information from players who have used steroids will surprise everyone with the reasons why players cheat. His exclusive conversation with the creator of some of baseball's most abused substances will make The Juice the season's most widely discussed baseball book. For readers who want to understand why baseball has a drug problem, how the drugs work, and how they have affected the game, Carroll provides the answers. They are surprising—and should lead to new and better questions.Trade ReviewHe explains the science...and, most importantly, analyzes whether and how these drugs affect the game. * Newswise.com *The answers are here in Carroll's well-researched, fact-filled book. * The San Diego Union-Tribune *An indispensable guide to today's controversies. * Newsweek *Carroll lays out a small wealth of data, compressed into simple enough terms, to inform the reader what steroids are [and] what they are not. -- Jeff KallmanAnyone who knows Will Carroll, or who has read his writings for Baseball Prospectus, knows he cares deeply about the game of baseball. It is the very reason he has authored The Juice. Will’s book will help those in the game, and the fans who follow the game, understand the issues of a problem that needs to be faced before it can disappear. -- Fred Claire, former L.A. Dodger Executive VP and author of Fred Claire: My 30 Years in Dodger BlueWill Carroll does a simple, brilliant thing in this book: He asks questions...and he goes about answering them, in a deliberate, curious, and rational way. His prose is clean and his aim is true, and in one fell swoop he’s raised the level of debate about steroids in this country. ...From now on, if a person wants to pontificate on the question, he’d better have read The Juice first. And if a person hopes to speak intelligently about how performance-enhancing drugs affect the games we play and the sports we follow, she will have certainly read The Juice. -- Eric Neel, ESPNThe Juice is a great resource for information on the history and presence of banned and illegal performance enhancers in sports. Will Carroll’s work really is a baseball book (on steroids)! -- Tom HouseIt's brimming with cold-eyed analysis, digestible science and shoe-leather journalism. No histrionics, no agenda; just an exhaustive look at steroids and what they mean for the game. It’s the most important work of its kind. -- Dayn Perry, FOX SportsEye opening! This is an important book for everyone who influences young athletes. The Juice is an objective look at the world of performance enhancement drugs today and tomorrow. -- Karl KuehlEveryone talks about steroids, but no one knows anything about them. Will Carroll’s The Juice is the first step in our education. -- Allen Barra * The Wall Street Journal *There’s a difference between thinking critically and criticizing, and Will Carroll demonstrates that throughout the text. The Juice is a must-read for legislators, sports administrators, educators, lawyers, doctors, journalists, athletes of all levels, and fans. -- Will Weiss, Senior Editor, YESNetwork.comStop! Don’t say another word about steroids until you’ve read The Juice. -- Rob Neyer, ESPNWill Carroll’s The Juice fills the yawning educational gap that exists in discussions on the topic. Are steroids in baseball a real problem? Absolutely, but if you want to have an intelligent conversation about them, make sure you first read The Juice. -- Jeff Erickson, RotowireA good job of showing why the situation involving performance enhancing drugs is more complicated than you might think. -- Ben Adler * New Republic *A fascinating new book. * ESPN the Magazine *Our education has begun.... Carroll...sifts through facts and myths and helps understand the layers of performance enhancements. -- Peter Gammons * ESPN the Magazine *Riveting...tremendously important: spelling out the complex arguments and issues regarding baseball and drug use.... A blessedly blather–free book. -- Daniel Brown * Mercury News *A professional and insightful approach to defining the ramifications of steroid usage as it applies to playing the sport of baseball. -- Bernie Gilmer * Sports Ramblings *Intriguing detail. -- Art Thiel * Seattle Post-Intelligencer *A dose of enlightenment. -- Brandon Wilson * Baseballmuse.Com *A must for any involved in the sport's finer issues. * Bookwatch *This book...is a great example of how to objectively examine a subject. -- Greg Hack * Kansas City Star *Riveting. -- Leo Roth * Democrat & Chronicle *Engaging reading. -- Russ Smith * New York Sun *One of the more important baseball and sports books written this decade. * Royalsreview.Com *

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Book SynopsisThe story of baseball in America begins not with the fabled Abner Doubleday but with a generation of mid-nineteenth-century Americans who moved from the countryside to the cities and brought a cherished but delightfully informal game with them. But Didn't We Have Fun? will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about baseball's origins. Peter Morris, author of the prizewinning A Game of Inches, takes a fresh look at the early amateur years of the game. Mr. Morris retrieves a lost era and a lost way of life. Offering a challenging new perspective on baseball's earliest years, and conveying the sense of delight that once pervaded the game and its players, Mr. Morris supplants old myths with a story just as marvelous-but one that really happened. With 25 rare photographs and drawings.Trade ReviewI first heard about Peter Morris because he was one of America’s preeminent Scrabble players. Now he has achieved an even greater distinction: one of America’s preeminent baseball historians. But Didn’t We Have Fun? is exhaustively researched and artfully written—an invaluable contribution to the early history of our sport and our country. -- Stefan Fatsis, author of Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players and WildIf you think baseball’s rich history begins with the American League in 1901, or with the National League in 1876, or even with the National Association in 1871, think again. Thanks to Peter Morris, now we know that the game’s pioneer days—the nearly four decades prior to the first professional ‘league’—might have been the richest of them all. -- Rob NeyerPeter Morris takes us on a fascinating and highly entertaining journey through the earliest—the very earliest—days of our National Pastime. To read this book is to see Baseball emerging from its womb and blinking its eyes and stretching its arms as it begins to take shape and through trial and error grows into its remarkable and compelling existence. -- Donald HonigAbner Doubleday just struck out. If you ever wondered where baseball came from—really came from—this story is for you. It’s the real story of how America’s game is much more about America than it is about a game. Entertaining and informative, I think Morris is headed for another medal. -- Will CarrollIn this title, which is sure to be popular, prolific baseball historian Morris engagingly describes the poorly appreciated early years of the game as it evolved to adopt a consistent set of rules. The well-known but much-misunderstood contributions of the New York Knickerbocker Club are reviewed fully, together with the fascinating depictions of the development of umpiring, professionalism, and sportsmanship. A fine addition to all collections. * Library Journal *Morris, a baseball scholar and historian, shows us around the ancient, pre-professional era of baseball with charming familiarity and dense, nuanced detail. -- Abe Lebovic * am New York *Entertaining and informative. -- Jonathan Yardley * The Review of Higher Education *Morris is very clear: The pioneers did have fun. * Book Digest *An entertaining, enlightening journey. For fans and non-fans alike, Morris’s book serves as an interesting window into the leisure culture of the nation leading up to and following directly after the Civil War. -- Wilson McBee * Popmatters *Morris’s study of baseball’s evolution during its pre-professional years is a model of careful scholarship, use of original sources, and elegant writing. * CHOICE *As the pages turn, professional baseball comes together before our eyes, and a bunch of diverse tributaries of proto-baseball flow, year by year, into the mighty, formalized, commercial river that we know today as the National Pastime. -- Ted Anthony * Associated Press *Dedicated statistics geeks will revel in the seemingly inexhaustible supply of arcane facts and figures…. A useful reference for diehard baseball historians. * Kirkus *The text is an intriguing study for students of baseball history curious about how aspects of the game developed. * Publishers Weekly *Concise, clear, and colorful, this book is a delight to mind and spirit. * The Boston Sunday Globe *[T]horoughly researched, entirely engaging…Morris achieves his main purpose, and more. He traces the game's westward advance-often along canal and railroad routes-and its evolution toward competitiveness and standardized rules. As he does, he takes the reader deep into the culture of 19th-century America, as revolutions in transportation and mass communication pushed everything, even casual pastimes, toward professionalization and commercialization. * Providence Journal *Morris's love of baseball is palpable throughout the book…. His enthusiasm adds to the charm with which he tells his story. * The Historian *[Scholars] may find that Porter's challenging, almost taunting tone inspires them to express their own beliefs and conclusions more forcefully, in keeping or at odds with what they will read in his essay. * Journal of Genocide Research *

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Book SynopsisWas Abner Doubleday the architect of baseball? What exactly did it mean to be a professional baseball player in the 1870s? What goes on in the front office? What exactly is the Eephus pitch? What are the tools of ignorance ? Readers will find the answers to these questions ä and many others ä in the pages of this remarkable baseball reference that's essential reading for fans of the game.ÞPart history book part instructional guide and part reference manual ÊBaseball FAQÊ covers all the bases ä from the rules of the game to the ballparks of yesterday and today from the minors to the major league from the stats to the food. This engaging compulsively readable tome offers baseball fans of all ages a wealth of fun facts and anecdotes on America's favorite pastime including sections on the All-American Girls Professional Ball League the Negro Leagues the basic skills of baseball baseball in the movies the scandals and the Hall of Famers.

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Book SynopsisThe Iconic Jersey: Baseball x Fashion explores the design and aesthetics of the iconic baseball jersey both on and off the sandlot. Featuring over 35 historic and contemporary jerseys and baseball-inspired fashion, this ground-breaking volume also examines wider sociological issues: why do we care so much about sports attire, and what do such clothes mean to us and the wider world? The Iconic Jersey is packed with images: often controversial baseball-inspired fashion— flannel wool fabrics, vibrant technicolour, button-up bib fronts, even ties and collars— drawn from the Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown; the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.; and the Boston Red Sox; baseball magazines; fashion magazines; and archival photographs, including Terry O’Neill’s famous photos of Elton John at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium in 1975 in a Bob Mackie-designed Dodger’s uniform, and Nike’s 2020 designs for the Major Leagues. An essay by Erin R. Corrales-Diaz explores the jersey as an entry point into 170 years of baseball uniforms and examines the relationship between aesthetics and athletics, fashion and function, the collective and the individual, regional and national impulses, and nostalgia and modernity.Table of ContentsDirectors’ Foreword; Acknowledgments; Rooting for Laundry; Behind the Seams; Plates: The Modern Jersey; Experimental Design; Off the Field; Notes; Selected Bibliography; Photography Credits; Index

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Book SynopsisRobert Elias is Dean's Scholar and Professor of Politics and Legal Studies at the University of San Francisco. His most recent baseball books include Baseball Rebels: The Players, People, and Social Movements That Shook Up the Game and Changed America and Major League Rebels: Baseball Battles Over Workers' Rights and American Empire (both with Peter Dreier). His baseball essays have appeared in Nine, Jacobin, Baseball Research Journal, American History Magazine, Pacific Historical Review, Diplomatic History, International Journal of the History of Sport, and the Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture. He is a longtime Society for American Baseball Research and Baseball Reliquary member. He lives in Mill Valley, CA, near San Francisco.

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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"

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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