Baseball: A History of America's Favorite Game (Modern Library Chronicles)

ISBN: 0812978706

Author: Vecsey, George

Condition: New

Football is force and fanatics, basketball is beauty and bounce. Baseball is everything: action, grace, the seasons of our lives. George Vecseys book proves it, without wasting a word.-Lee Eisenberg, author of The NumberIn Baseball, one of the great bards of Americas Grand Old Game gives a rousing account of the sport, from its pre-Republic roots to the present day. George Vecsey casts a fresh eye on the game, illuminates its foibles and triumphs, and performs a marvelous feat: making a classic story seem refreshingly new.Baseball is a narrative of Americas can-do spirit, in which stalwart immigrants such as Henry Chadwick could transplant cricket and rounders into the fertile American culture and in which die-hard unionist baseballers such as Charles Comiskey and Connie Mack could eventually become the tightfisted avatars of the games big-money establishment. Its a celebration of such underdogs as a rag-armed catcher turned owner named Branch Rickey and a sure-handed fielder named Curt Flood, both of whom flourished as true great men of history. But most of all, Baseball is a testament to the unbreakable bond between our nations pastime and the fans, whove remained loyal through the fifty-year-long interdict on black athletes, the Black Sox scandal, franchise relocation, and the use of performance-enhancing drugs by some major stars.Reverent, playful, and filled with Vecseys charm, Baseball begs to be read in the span of a rain-delayed doubleheader, and so enjoyable that, like a favorite teams championship run, one hopes it never ends.Vecsey possesses a journalists eye for detail and a historians feel for the sweep of action. His research is scrupulous and his writing crisp. This book is an instant classic-a highly readable guide to Americas great enduring pastime.-The Louisville Courier Journal