Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide, 1918

Foster, John B. (Editor)

Published by New York: American Sports Publishing Co., 1918

About this Item

First edition. Publisher's pale green pictorial wrappers, with yellow border, batter in white and red uniform to front wrapper, lettered in blue and red. Good, with wrappers loose but holding, a touch of soiling to wrappers, small chips to top corners of first four pages, and some toning to pages. Overall, a copy that presents well. This guide covers the 1917 baseball season, which ended with the Chicago White Sox (Eddie Collins, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson) defeating the New York Giants four games to two. Team photos throughout the book feature stars like Joe Jackson (p. 104), Babe Ruth (p. 108), Ty Cobb (p. 112), Walter Johnson (p. 114), and more. Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide was an annually issued guide first published in 1878 by sporting goods magnate A. G. Spalding. During the 19th century, Spalding and Reach's guides included the rules and regulations for playing the game and were the primary source of sports statistics and analysis of the prior year. From 1881 to 1908, Spalding's Guide was edited by Henry Chadwick, often referred to as the "Father of Baseball." Chadwick made significant contributions to the rules of the game, created the modern baseball box score, and introduced a number of vocabulary words that are still used to today, like "strike out," "cut off," and "fungo." Chadwick passed away in 1908 and was succeeded as editor by longtime sportswriter John B. Foster.

Seller Inventory # JBF003

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide, 1918
• Publisher: New York: American Sports Publishing Co.
• Publication Date: 1918
• Binding: Original Wraps
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Baseball
  • Americana
  • Sports