A succinct history of baseball, newly revised and updated.
In this third edition of his lively history of America's game, widely recognized as the best of its kind, Benjamin G. Rader expands his scope, covering record crowds and record income, construction of new ballparks, a change in the strike zone, a surge in recruiting Japanese players, and an emerging cadre of explosive long-ball hitters.
Benjamin G. Rader is James L. Sellers Professor of History at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and the author of American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Televised Sports.
Joe Barrett (narrator) has narrated dozens of audiobooks for major companies and is the winner of multiple Earphones Awards (AudioFile).
REVIEWS:
“The best single-volume history of the sport.... Tackles the business and organizational evolution of the professional game, while not losing sight of how it was played on the field.”
—Warren Goldstein, Washington Post Book World
“The search for a good compact history of baseball is over. This work, thoughtfully constructed to locate the national pastime within a rich social and economic context, is a model of historical synthesis.... This reviewer does not know of a better history of baseball.”
—Choice
“Baseball reflects Rader's firm grasp of the best and latest scholarship and his insightful understanding of American sport history.”
—Steve Gietschier, Sporting News
“A grand slam.... An entertaining, insightful history of the national pastime set within the context of major issues in American society.... By far the finest one-volume history of America's game ever written.”
—Larry R. Gerlach, author of The Men in Blue: Conversations with Umpires
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction
1. The Fraternity and Its Game
2. A Commercial Spectacle
3. The First Professional Teams
4. The First Professional Leagues
5. The Player’s Revolt
6. The Great Baseball War
7. Baseball’s Coming of Age
8. The Big Fix
9. The Age of Ruth
10. An Age of Dynasties
11. Baseball’s Great Experiment
12.The Last Days of the Old Game
13. Baseball in Trouble
14. The Empowerment of the Players
15. The Demise of the Dynasties
16. The Resurgence of America’s Game
17. It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times
All titles are published by: University Press Audiobooks
an imprint of
Redwood Audiobooks
Baseball 