Download or read book How Baseball Happened written by Thomas W. Gilbert and published by Godine+ORM. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The untold story of baseball’s nineteenth-century origins: “a delightful look at a young nation creating a pastime that was love from the first crack of the bat” (Paul Dickson, The Wall Street Journal). You may have heard that Abner Doubleday or Alexander Cartwright invented baseball. Neither did. You may have been told that a club called the Knickerbockers played the first baseball game in 1846. They didn’t. Perhaps you’ve read that baseball’s color line was first crossed by Jackie Robinson in 1947. Nope. Baseball’s true founders don’t have plaques in Cooperstown. They were hundreds of uncredited, ordinary people who played without gloves, facemasks, or performance incentives. Unlike today’s pro athletes, they lived full lives outside of sports. They worked, built businesses, and fought against the South in the Civil War. In this myth-busting history, Thomas W. Gilbert reveals the true beginnings of baseball. Through newspaper accounts, diaries, and other accounts, he explains how it evolved through the mid-nineteenth century into a modern sport of championships, media coverage, and famous stars—all before the first professional league was formed in 1871. Winner of the Casey Award: Best Baseball Book of the Year

Download or read book 50 Biggest Baseball Myths written by Brandon Toropov and published by Citadel Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 50 myths of American baseball debunked whilst providing fans with reasons to appreciate the true history of baseball.

Download or read book American Baseball Myth written by Adam Bruce and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2023-07-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is absolutely no evidence that Abner Doubleday invented the American game of baseball. Early American settlers played a game they brought with them from England, a game called rounders, a form of cricket. Eventually, the formal rules were altered to embrace a simple and faster game in America referred to as Town Ball. The game we now know as baseball evolved from this adaptation and quickly was accepted as a new sport among urban area residents.

Download or read book Baseball s Creation Myth written by Brian Martin and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2013-05-28 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story about baseball's being invented in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839 by Abner Doubleday served to prove that the U.S. national pastime was an American game, not derived from the English children's game of rounders as had been believed. The tale, embraced by Americans, has long been proven false but to this day, Cooperstown is celebrated as the birthplace of baseball. The story has captured the hearts of millions. But who spun that tale and why? This book provides a surprising answer about the origins of America's most durable myth. It seems that Abner Graves, who espoused Cooperstown as the birthplace of the game, likely was inspired by another story about an early game of baseball. The stories were remarkably similar, as were the men who told them. For the first time, this book links the stories and lives of Graves, a mining engineer, and Adam Ford, a medical doctor, both residents of Denver, Colorado. While the actual origins of the game of baseball remain subject to debate and study, new light is shed on the source of baseball's durable creation myth.

Download or read book Baseball Myths written by Bill Deane and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baseball followers have been perpetuating, debating, and debunking myths for nearly two centuries, producing a treasury of baseball stories and "facts." Yet never before have these elements of baseball history been carefully scrutinized and compiled into one comprehensive work--until now. In Baseball Myths: Debating, Debunking, and Disproving Tales from the Diamond, award-winning researcher Bill Deane examines baseball legends--old and new. This book covers such legendary players as Shoeless Joe Jackson, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Pete Rose, and Derek Jeter, while also looking at lesser-known figures like Dummy Hoy, Grover Land, Wally Pipp, and Babe Herman--not to mention people who found fame in other fields, such as Civil War General Abner Doubleday, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Deane's original research and logic will educate, amuse, and often surprise readers, revealing the truth behind such legends as the inventor of baseball, the first black player in the major leagues, and even the origin of the hot dog. With photographs, stats, and more than 80 myths examined, this book is sure to fascinate everyone, from the casual baseball fan to lifelong devotees of the sport.

Download or read book Baseball in the Garden of Eden written by John Thorn and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-03-20 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Think you know how the game of baseball began? Think again. Forget Abner Doubleday and Cooperstown. Did baseball even have a father--or did it just evolve from other bat-and-ball games? John Thorn, baseball's preeminent historian, examines the creation story of the game and finds it all to be a gigantic lie. From its earliest days baseball was a vehicle for gambling, a proxy form of class warfare. Thorn traces the rise of the New York version of the game over other variations popular in Massachusetts and Philadelphia. He shows how the sport's increasing popularity in the early decades of the nineteenth century mirrored the migration of young men from farms and small towns to cities, especially New York. Full of heroes, scoundrels, and dupes, this book tells the story of nineteenth-century America, a land of opportunity and limitation, of glory and greed--all present in the wondrous alloy that is our nation and its pastime.--From publisher description.

Download or read book A People s History of Baseball written by Mitchell Nathanson and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2012-03-30 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baseball 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 fresh perspective on the firmly embedded tales of baseball as America, a new and unexpected story emerges of both the game and what it represents. Exploring the founding of the National League, Nathanson focuses on the newer Americans who sought club ownership to promote their own social status in the increasingly closed caste of nineteenth-century America. His perspective on the rise and public rebuke of the Players Association shows that these baseball events reflect both the collective spirit of working and middle-class America in the mid-twentieth century as well as the countervailing forces that sought to beat back this emerging movement that threatened the status quo. And his take on baseball’s racial integration that began with Branch Rickey’s “Great Experiment” reveals the debilitating effects of the harsh double standard that resulted, requiring a black player to have unimpeachable character merely to take the field in a Major League game, a standard no white player was required to meet. Told with passion and occasional outrage, A People's History of Baseball challenges the perspective of the well-known, deeply entrenched, hyper-patriotic stories of baseball and offers an incisive alternative history of America's much-loved national pastime.

Download or read book America Through Baseball written by David Quentin Voigt and published by Taylor Trade Publications. This book was released on 1976 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To find more information about Rowman and Littlefield titles, please visit www.rowmanlittlefield.com.

Download or read book Alexander Cartwright written by Monica Nucciarone and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2009-06-01 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alexander Joy Cartwright Jr. (1820?92) was present during the organization of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York in the mid-1800s. That much is certain. Since that time, and especially with his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938, Cartwright has been celebrated as the founder of our national pastime, much like Abner Doubleday. As with Doubleday, Cartwright?s claim to fame has caused all sorts of conjecture and controversy. His complex life, not just the mythography surrounding him, comes clearly into focus in Monica Nucciarone?s biography of the incomparable Cartwright. ø Through journal entries, letters, and newspaper clippings, Nucciarone traces Cartwright?s path from Elysian Fields in New Jersey to a gold-rush adventure in California, and on to Honolulu, where he became involved in the movement to annex Hawaii to the United States. Beginning with the widely held notion that Cartwright created the game of baseball as we know it today, then spread it across North America to Hawaii like a Johnny Appleseed, Nucciarone?s book separates fact from speculation. Although the picture that emerges may not be the Alexander Cartwright of legend, it shows us a man as colorful, complicated, and immense in character?and as worthy of the history books?as any legend he inspired.

Download or read book Baseball Mythology in August Wilson s Fences written by Verena Bär and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2013-07-17 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,3, University of Bayreuth, language: English, abstract: Wilson said that he “started [his play] Fences with the image of a man standing in his yard with a baby in his arms” (qtd. in DeVries 25). This first picture developed into the Pulitzer Prize winning story of Troy Maxson, a fifty-three-year-old, black garbage collector in Pittsburgh. The play starts 1957 and ends 1965 with the death of Troy. In the play we get an insight into Troy’s life with his wife Rose, his sons Cory and Lyons, his brother Gabriel and his best friend Bono. Troy has to face a lot of challenges. First of all, he has to live in a racist society which denied him to live his dream of being a baseball player. Wang says that “the tragic dimension of the play is delineated by the conflict between characters’ tenacious pursuit of their dreams and an environment which works adversely to prevent them from realizing their dreams” (Wang 63). Furthermore, Troy has to work at a garbage department. His hard job gets him just enough money to nourish his family. Also, in his family he has a lot of problems to deal with, especially with his son Cory, who wants to become a professional football player, but also with his wife Rose. The reason for his problems with Rose is that Troy has an affair with another woman, Alberta, and impregnated her. So, the story of the life of Troy Maxson is a story about racism, friendship, segregation, family, love, shattered dreams, rejection and of course baseball.

Download or read book A Legend for the Legendary written by James A. Vlasich and published by Popular Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The origins of baseball are controversial. James A. Vlasich discusses the debates between two men intimately involved in nineteenth-century baseball, Henry Chadwick and Albert G. Spalding. Abner Graves of the Mills Commission claimed that Abner Doubleday had invented the game and he had done it in Cooperstown, New York. This claim was scrutinized at the time but the myth became etched into baseball history. Through the years, however, some critics have questioned the Mills Commission report. The problem is that the Baseball Hall of Fame is built on this shaky foundation. The lack of diligence on the part of Spalding's self-appointed committee has led to a credibility gap for the baseball shrine that continues a half century after its dedication. Indeed, the story of the building of the Baseball Hall of Fame is filled with intrigue worthy of a political thriller.

Download or read book The Baseball Uncyclopedia written by Michael Kun and published by Clerisy Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In The Baseball Uncyclopedia: A Highly Opinionated, Myth-Busting Guide to the Great American Game, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Michael Kun and his co-author (and very funny law partner) Howard Bloom reveal the truth about the tall tales, ill-formed opinions, and widely held misunderstandings that baseball fans have clung to for generations."--The publisher.

Download or read book Rounding the Bases written by Joseph L. Price and published by Mercer University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After identifying early conflicts between churches and baseball in the late-nineteenth century, Price examines the appropriation of baseball by the House of David, an early twentieth-century millennial Protestant community in southern Michigan. Turning then from historic intersections between baseball and religion, two chapters focus on the ways that baseball reelects religious myths. First, the omphalos myth about the origin and ordering of the world is reflected in the rituals and rules of the game. Then the myth of curses is explored in the culture of superstition that underlies the game. At the heart of the book is a sustained argument about how baseball functions as an American civil religion, affirming and sanctifying American identity, especially during periods of national crises such as wars and terrorist attacks. Building on this analysis of baseball as an America's civil religion, two chapters draw upon novels by W. P. Kinsella and David James Duncan to explore the sacramental potential of baseball and to align baseball with apocalyptic possibilities. The final chapter serves as a full confession, interpreting baseball affiliation stories as conversion narratives. In various ways

Download or read book Errors and Fouls written by Peter Handrinos and published by Potomac Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2013-05-01 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Handrinos examines the underlying issues that affect all fans: modern game tactics, playoff formats, and baseball economies. The author's contrarian analysis and witty writing makes Errors and Fouls essential reading for anyone wanting to know how today's baseball world really works.

Download or read book The Curt Flood Story written by Stuart L. Weiss and published by University of Missouri Press. This book was released on 2007-06-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Curt Flood, former star center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, is a hero to many for selflessly sacrificing his career to challenge the legality of baseball’s reserve system. Although he lost his case before the Supreme Court, he has become for many a martyr in the eventually successful battle for free agency. Sportswriters and fans alike have helped to paint a picture of Flood as a larger-than-life figure, a portrait that, unhappily, cannot stand closer inspection. This book reveals the real Curt Flood—more man than myth. Flood stirred up a hornet’s nest by refusing to be traded from the Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies after the 1969 season, arguing that Major League Baseball’s reserve system reduced him to the status of bondage. Flood decided to resist a system in which his contract could be traded without his consent and in which he was not at liberty to negotiate his services in an open market. Stuart Weiss examines the man behind the decision, exploring the span of Flood’s life and shedding light on his relationships with those who helped shape his determination to sue baseball and providing a new perspective on the lawsuit that found its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Although a superb player, Flood was known to be temperamental and sensitive; in suing Major League Baseball he transformed his grievances against the Cardinals front office into an attack on how the business of big-league ball was conducted. Weiss shows that Flood was far from the stereotypical “dumb jock” but was rather a proud, multifaceted black man in a business run by white moguls. By illuminating Flood’s private side, rarely seen by the public, he reveals how Flood misled a gullible press on a regular basis and how his 1971 memoir, The Way It Is, didn’t tell it the way it really was. Drawing on previously untapped sources, Weiss examines more fully and deeply than other writers the complexities of Flood’s decision to pursue his lawsuit—and demonstrates that the picture of Flood as a martyr for free agency is a myth. He suggests why, of all the players traded or sold through the years, it was Flood who brought this challenge. Weiss also explains how Flood’s battle against the reserve system cannot be understood in isolation from the personal experiences that precipitated it, such as his youth in a dysfunctional home, his troubled first marriage, his financial problems, and his unwavering commitment to the Cardinals. The Curt Flood Story is a realistic account of an eloquent man who presented a warm, even vulnerable, face to the public as well as to friends, while hiding his inner furies. It shows that Flood was neither a hero nor a martyr but a victim of unique circumstances and his own life.

Download or read book Baseball and the American Dream written by Robert Elias and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-15 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating look at how America's favorite sport has both reflected and shaped social, economic, and

Download or read book Baseball Myths written by Bill Deane and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2012-09-13 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baseball followers have been perpetuating, debating, and debunking myths for nearly two centuries, producing a treasury of baseball stories and “facts.” Yet never before have these elements of baseball history been carefully scrutinized and compiled into one comprehensive work—until now. In Baseball Myths: Debating, Debunking, and Disproving Tales from the Diamond, award-winning researcher Bill Deane examines baseball legends—old and new. This book covers such legendary players as Shoeless Joe Jackson, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Pete Rose, and Derek Jeter, while also looking at lesser-known figures like Dummy Hoy, Grover Land, Wally Pipp, and Babe Herman—not to mention people who found fame in other fields, such as Civil War General Abner Doubleday, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Deane’s original research and logic will educate, amuse, and often surprise readers, revealing the truth behind such legends as the inventor of baseball, the first black player in the major leagues, and even the origin of the hot dog. With photographs, stats, and more than 80 myths examined, this book is sure to fascinate everyone, from the casual baseball fan to lifelong devotees of the sport.