The Great Baseball Revolt: The Rise and Fall of the 1890 Players League

Robert B. Ross

ISBN 10: 0803249411 / ISBN 13: 9780803249417

Published by University of Nebraska Press, 2016

About this Item

The Players League, formed in 1890, was a short-lived professional baseball league controlled and owned in part by the players themselves. The Great Baseball Revolt is a historic overview of the rise and fall of the Players League, which fielded teams in Boston, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Num Pages: 288 pages, 10 illustrations. BIC Classification: 1KBB; 3JH; WSBT; WSJT. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 5817 x 3887 x 25. Weight in Grams: 558. . 2016. hardcover. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780803249417

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Great Baseball Revolt: The Rise and Fall of the 1890 Players League
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0803249411
• ISBN 13: 9780803249417
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

The Players League, formed in 1890, was a short-lived professional baseball league controlled and owned in part by the players themselves, a response to the National League’s salary cap and “reserve rule,” which bound players for life to one particular team. Led by John Montgomery Ward, the Players League was a star-studded group that included most of the best players of the National League, who bolted not only to gain control of their wages but also to share ownership of the teams.

Lasting only a year, the league impacted both the professional sports and the labor politics of athletes and nonathletes alike. The Great Baseball Revolt is a historic overview of the rise and fall of the Players League, which fielded teams in Boston, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Though it marketed itself as a working-class league, the players were underfunded and had to turn to wealthy capitalists for much of their startup costs, including the new ballparks. It was in this context that the league intersected with the organized labor movement, and in many ways challenged by organized labor to be by and for the people.

In its only season, the Players League outdrew the National League in fan attendance. But when the National League overinflated its numbers and profits, the Players League backers pulled out. The Great Baseball Revolt brings to life a compelling cast of characters and a mostly forgotten but important time in professional sports when labor politics affected both athletes and nonathletes.

About the Author

Robert B. Ross is an associate professor of global cultural studies at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. His work has appeared in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Antipode, Human Geography, Urban Geography, and Area Chicago, among other places.