Baseball : A History of America's Game

Traces the development of major league baseball, looks at the Negro Leagues and the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and describes trends in baseball

Although the book does not attempt comprehensiveness, this short survey of the development of America's national pastime has merit. Rader ( American Sports ) discusses the origins of the game, separating fact from mythology, then relates the role of the Civil War in spreading baseball from New York to the rest of the nation, the rise of professional teams and leagues, the crushing of the players' revolt of 1890, the "Age of Ruth," the building of dynasties such as the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals, the racial integration of the sport, the modifications in the reserve clause and the contemporary scene. Rader covers each phase accurately and with elan, as when he writes, "In a world of seething change, baseball continues to offer comfort and reassurance; it remains America's Game." Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

With most of today's baseball books concentrating on very specific aspects of the sport, it is interesting to find one that attempts to relate the complete history of America's game. Beginning before the Civil War, Rader traces the development of rules in the 1890s, the advent of the home run in the 1920s, the breakdown of the color barrier in the 1940s, and the problems of expansion and free agency in our own era. Along with profiles of well-known personalities like Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, and familiar events such as the Black Sox scandal of 1919, this thoroughly researched book presents some unusual facts (including information on Harry H. Freeman's barnstorming "buxom beauties," an all-female pro team that played some 60 years before the women of the current film A League of Their Own ). This volume is highly recommended for most libraries.
-Dan Bogey, Clearfield Cty. P.L. Federation, Curwensville, Pa.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.