Inventing Baseball: The 100 Greatest Games of the 19th Century (Paperback or Softback)

A project of SABR's Nineteenth Century Committee, INVENTING BASEBALL brings to life the greatest games to be played in the game's early years, starting with a game in 1833. From the "prisoner of war" game that took place among captive Union soldiers during the Civil War (immortalized in a famous lithograph), to the first intercollegiate game (Amherst versus Williams), to the first professional no-hitter, the games in this volume span 1833–1900 and detail the athletic exploits of such players as Cap Anson, Moses "Fleetwood" Walker, Charlie Comiskey, Mike "King" Kelly, and John Montgomery Ward. Lavishly illustrated with almost 200 photos and images from the era.


42 SABR members contributed chapters to the effort, including Bill Felber, Bill Nowlin, Bob Bailey, Bob Tiemann, Casey Tibbitts, Charles Faber, Cliff Blau, Craig Waff, David Arcidiacano, Dick McBane, Donald Jensen, Edward Achorn, Frank Vaccaro, Greg Rhodes, Irv Goldfarb, James Rygelski, Jean-Pierre Caillault, Jeff Samoray, Jerry Casway, Jerry Grillo, Jim Overmyer, Jimmy Keenan, Joanne Hulbert, John Bauer, John Husman, John Thorn, John Zinn, Jon Barnes, Kathy Torres, Lyle Spatz, Mark Pestana, Mike Harrington, Parker Bena, Patricia Millen, Paul Browne, Peter Mancuso, Phil Dixon, Rich Bogovich, Richard Hershberger, Terry Gottschall, W. Lloyd Johnson, and William Lamb. Special thanks to Skip McAfee.

SABR's Nineteenth Century Committee, established in 1983, fosters research on all facets of baseball before 1901. Completed committee projects include full team and player statistics for the 1871-1875 National Association and two volumes of short biographies published by SABR, Nineteenth Century Stars (first edition 1989, reissued in 2012) and Baseball's First Stars (first edition 1996).