Baseball : From the Archives of The Sporting News

This book, in the truest sense, is a celebration of our national pastime through the 20th century - as well as a history and civics lesson that charts the phenomenal story of growth, discovery, perseverance and accomplishment. Modern baseball traces its roots to 1901, the year the American League began play, and its stories, heroes and memories have been passed from generation to generation like a valuable family heirloom.
Join with The Sporting News for an incredible trip through history, a visual and reflective reminder of where we were and how far we've come. This is the publication that discussed baseball with Ban Johnson, the American League founder who forced baseball into the 20th century, criticized Fred Merkle when he forgot to touch second base, chronicled the rise and fall of the Federal League, mourned when the black cloud of scandal tarnished the game and celebrated when a charismatic slugger named Babe Ruth returned its luster.

It has survived political upheaval, scandals, a great depression, the turmoil of integration, two world wars, rival leagues, labor stoppages and a salary structure that continues to spiral into the economic stratosphere. It has overcome all obstacles, patched every self-inflicted wound and learned from both its successes and failures.

Baseball, by any historical standard, is resilient and enduring. It¿s also a mirror to the soul of America, a reflection so deeply intertwined with society that you can¿t separate one from the other. Society¿s evolution is also baseball¿s; their futures are tied together, their pasts are shared. It¿s fair to say that baseball imitates life, but it¿s probably no less accurate to suggest that life also imitates baseball.

This book, in the truest sense, is a celebration of our national pastime through the 20th century¿as well as a history and civics lesson that charts the phenomenal story of growth, discovery, perseverance and accomplishment. Modern baseball traces its roots to 1901, the year the American League began play, and its stories, heroes and memories have been passed from generation to generation like a valuable family heirloom.

Join with The Sporting News for an incredible trip through history, a visual and reflective reminder of where we were and how far we¿ve come. This is the publication that discussed baseball with Ban Johnson, the American League founder who forced baseball into the 20th century, criticized Fred Merkle when he forgot to touch second base, chronicled the rise and fall of the Federal League, mourned when the black cloud of scandal tarnished the game and celebrated when a charismatic slugger named Babe Ruth returned its luster.

No publication was more intricately tied to baseball when it struggled through the depression, did its patriotic part for the war effort and then experienced the fruits of a technological revolution that triggered growth, expansion and economic rewards beyond anybody¿s wildest imagination. No publication can be more attuned to the sights, sounds and images of the game, its memorable moments, passions, heroes and subtle nuances.

Never has such an amazing collection of photographs, clips and insightful text been melded together to tell the story of baseball. It provides a window into TSN¿s deep and passionate baseball archives while providing a sense of how the game has evolved throughout a century of change, discovery and far-reaching innovation.

Stars like Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Dizzy Dean, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax, Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, George Brett, Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Mark McGwire and Greg Maddux fill our hearts and provide a foundation for our baseball memories. But so do names like Doc Miller, Charlie Robertson, Red Lucas, Zeke Bella and Bobby Del Greco, journeymen in terms of baseball talent but giants in the minds of impressionable kids who called them heroes.

They¿re all here, bound together by time, history and baseball. It¿s a story worth telling, especially by the publication that was there.