The first biography of one of the most adventurous and influential figures in baseball history.

The first biography of one of the most adventurous and influential figures in baseball history.

As a player, manager, team captain, umpire, owner and league president, Hall of Famer Jim O'Rourke (1851-1918) spoke for the players in the emerging game of baseball. O'Rourke's career paralleled the rise of the game from a regional sport with few strategies to the national pastime. Nicknamed "Orator" for his booming voice and his championing of the rights of professional athletes, he was a driving force in making the sport a profession, bringing respectability to the role of professional baseball player. From contemporary sources, O'Rourke's own correspondence, and player files available through the National Baseball Library, a rounded portrait of Jim O'Rourke emerges. Quick to speak his mind, the outfielder played on nine pennant-winning teams, but his playing career was overshadowed by his work in organizing baseball's first union. After his playing days ended, O'Rourke attempted to establish the Connecticut League, becoming the circuit's president, secretary, and treasury. Though the league failed to fully materialize, his Bridgeport Victors did play several games and were one of the few racially integrated teams--a fact emblematic of O'Rourke's efforts to change the national pastime. In those efforts, he attempted to wrest control of the game from the owners and empower the players. A carefully researched account of O'Rourke's life and career, this biography also provides a behind-the-scenes look at the growth of the national pastime from the Civil War through the deadball era.

When the members of the first baseball players' union formed their own league in open revolt against the reserve clause and other restrictive practices of the National League, baseball journalism became less of a "curiosity shop" phenomenon and moved into the mainstream. Baseball writers Henry Chadwick, T.H. Murnane, and Ella Black covered the labor struggle on the field and in the front offices--and took sides: one as a mouthpiece for the capitalist owners, one as a supporter of the cooperatively operated Players' League, and one as a voice for female journalists. Through a close examination of their work, this book charts the rise of sports journalism in response to the famed Brotherhood War of 1890.

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. Purchase the audio edition.

Michael Lewis’s instant classic may be “the most influential book on sports ever written” (People), but “you need know absolutely nothing about baseball to appreciate the wit, snap, economy and incisiveness of [Lewis’s] thoughts about it” (Janet Maslin, New York Times). One of GQ's 50 Best Books of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century Just before the 2002 season opens, the Oakland Athletics must relinquish its three most prominent (and expensive) players and is written off by just about everyone—but then comes roaring back to challenge the American League record for consecutive wins. How did one of the poorest teams in baseball win so many games? In a quest to discover the answer, Michael Lewis delivers not only “the single most influential baseball book ever” (Rob Neyer, Slate) but also what “may be the best book ever written on business” (Weekly Standard). Lewis first looks to all the logical places—the front offices of major league teams, the coaches, the minds of brilliant players—but discovers the real jackpot is a cache of numbers?numbers!?collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, and physics professors. What these numbers prove is that the traditional yardsticks of success for players and teams are fatally flawed. Even the box score misleads us by ignoring the crucial importance of the humble base-on-balls. This information had been around for years, and nobody inside Major League Baseball paid it any mind. And then came Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics. He paid attention to those numbers?with the second-lowest payroll in baseball at his disposal he had to?to conduct an astonishing experiment in finding and fielding a team that nobody else wanted. In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Michael Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win . . . how can we not cheer for David?

For baseball's millions of fans, this ultimate reference to the national pastime features a listing of more than 800 memorable people, places, dates, events, terms, records, and statistics. From the game's origins in the 1840s to the present day, The Book of Baseball Literacy presents complete details on the great sport in one lively, fascinating treasury.

In this third edition of his lively history of America's game--widely recognized as the best of its kind--Benjamin G. Rader expands his scope to include commentary on Major League Baseball through the 2006 season: record crowds and record income, construction of new ballparks, a change in the strike zone, a surge in recruiting Japanese players, and an emerging cadre of explosive long-ball hitters.

From exploits on the field, to machinations in the front office, to data on the cities where they play, the Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball Clubs presents the team history of each of the 30 MLB teams. Intelligent, in-depth essays provide social and economic histories of each club that go beyond the recounting of team glories or failures year by year. Team origins, annual campaigns, and players and managers all figure into the story, but so do owners, financiers, politicians, neighborhoods and fans. Teams are also looked at as business enterprises, with special attention given to labor issues like the reserve clause and free agency, as well as stadium construction and financing. Social and political issues are covered as well, including racism and integration, ethnic makeup of fans and players, gambling, liquor sales, and Sunday play. National events, like World War I, World War II, the Great Depression and the Cold War, and their impact on the national pastime, are also brought into the picture where they are relevant. Media coverage and broadcasting rights are discussed, as is the great influence the flood of media money has had on the sport. As America's sport, baseball reflects not just our ideas and beliefs about competition, it also reflects our national and regional identities. Readers will be able to find useful information about: important players, managers, owners; community relations/charity work; business and labor issues (television income, free agency); race relations; baseball/sports economics (including stadium construction, team relocations; and teams in local and national culture (Fenway Park, Wrigley Field as local icons, Yankees as a national team). Every essay is signed, and concludes with suggested readings and a bibliography. The work is illustrated, has a comprehensive bibliography, and is thoroughly indexed.

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.