Early Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1825-1908

This compilation of 120 primary writings documents baseball’s first century, from a loosely organized village social event to the arrival of the National League. Collecting from a wide range of sources—including newspaper accounts, letters, folk poetry, songs, and annual guides—Dean A. Sullivan of Fairfax, Virginia, progresses chronologically from the earliest known baseball reference (1825) to the creation of the Doubleday Myth (1908).

Benjamin G. Rader, author of Baseball: A History of America’s Game is a professor of history at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.