Description
Book SynopsisDuring the 1880s, baseball's popularity swelled, basic rules such as balls and strikes were being refined and entire leagues came and went. Bowman illustrates the growing pains of the sport, casting baseball's early championships as a lens through which to view late 19th century America.
Trade Review"Bowman's blending of narrative and anecdote is engaging, and his conclusions are thoughtful and intelligent. In telling the history of baseball's earliest experiment with postseason competition, he introduces the reader to many of the now-forgotten stars and journeymen of the 1880s."—Reed Browning, author of Cy Young: A Baseball Life
"A valuable study of early championship baseball."—Elysian Fields Quarterly
"Clearly written, spiced with entertaining anecdotes, and full of useful background material... grounded in solid research in the periodical literature of the era."—Business History Review
Table of ContentsTable of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The 1880s
2. Interleague Play
3. The Beginning
4. Chicago and St. Louis
5. The Browns and the Wolverines
6. The New York Giants
7. New York and Brooklyn
8. Brooklyn and Louisville
Conclusion
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index
