"Equal parts baseball and mystery are the perfect proportion." --Robert Parker The Big Dead Machine It's 1921, and journeyman infielder Mickey Rawlings finds himself on yet another team, the Cincinnati Reds, who everyone remembers for "winning" the 1919 World Series against the infamous Chicago Black Sox. In an effort to refurbish their image, Oliver Perrimen, a die-hard Reds fan cooks up a memorabilia exhibit of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, who went undefeated in a historic coast-to-coast romp. But before the tour can reach first base, someone strikes Ollie out with a well-placed bullet. Since murder seems to follow Mickey around like a hitting slump he can't quite quit, he starts snagging clues. Soon enough he finds his hands full with a forgotten murder, breaking and entering, and an angry girlfriend. But when the game of his own life is on the line, Mickey Rawlings is a born survivor. At least he hopes. . . Praise for the Mickey Rawlings Baseball Mysteries "Full of life." --The New York Times Book Review on Hanging Curve "A perfect book for the rain delay. . .a winner!" --USA Today on Murder at Fenway Park "Delightful. . .mixing suspense, period detail that will leave readers eager for subsequent innings." --Publishers Weekly on Murder at Fenway Park

Celebrate the 150th anniversary of professional baseball with the amazing 1869 Red Stockings, the team that made baseball famous. Led by two giants of the game, brothers Harry and George Wright, and backed by a city crazy about its baseball, the Red Stockings win every game, play on both coasts, and revolutionize a sport that was only beginning to establish itself as the National Pastime. Follow the story of how a second-class amateur team from Cincinnati, isolated from the baseball hotbeds of the East, became the first openly professional team, dominated its more established competition, and became the first sports team in America to receive national acclaim. Meet the players and civic leaders behind the Red Stockings revolution, relive their key games, and experience life and travel in 1869. Then learn about the team's shocking demise after the 1870 season. The Red Stockings paved the way for the major league baseball of today, and this is the most complete look at their story.

The untold story of baseball’s nineteenth-century origins: “a delightful look at a young nation creating a pastime that was love from the first crack of the bat” (Paul Dickson, The Wall Street Journal). You may have heard that Abner Doubleday or Alexander Cartwright invented baseball. Neither did. You may have been told that a club called the Knickerbockers played the first baseball game in 1846. They didn’t. Perhaps you’ve read that baseball’s color line was first crossed by Jackie Robinson in 1947. Nope. Baseball’s true founders don’t have plaques in Cooperstown. They were hundreds of uncredited, ordinary people who played without gloves, facemasks, or performance incentives. Unlike today’s pro athletes, they lived full lives outside of sports. They worked, built businesses, and fought against the South in the Civil War. In this myth-busting history, Thomas W. Gilbert reveals the true beginnings of baseball. Through newspaper accounts, diaries, and other accounts, he explains how it evolved through the mid-nineteenth century into a modern sport of championships, media coverage, and famous stars—all before the first professional league was formed in 1871. Winner of the Casey Award: Best Baseball Book of the Year

First published in 1948, Lee Allen's history of the Reds, like Franklin Lewis's history of the Cleveland Indians, was originally published by G. P. Putnam's Sons. Allen narrates the historic organization's success, beginning shortly after the Civil War with baseball's rising popularity among Cincinnati's elite. Eventually, as interest increased, America's first professional baseball team was established in 1868 - Cincinnati's Red Stockings. The Cincinnati Reds chronicles each season from the organization's early years, most notably the 1882 American Association pennant and the 1919 and 1940 National League pennants, and World Series championships, including the infamous Chicago White Sox scandal. Allen retells many of the early Reds stories likely forgotten or unknown by today's fans. This book is as thorough as it is absorbing, and will be enjoyed by those interested in the early days of America's favourite passtime.

The Big 50: Cincinnati Reds is an amazing, full-color look at the 50 men and moments that made the Reds the Reds. Experienced sportswriters Chad Dotson and Chris Garber recount the living history of the Reds, counting down from No. 50 to No. 1. Big 50: Reds brilliantly brings to life the Reds remarkable story, from Johnny Bench and Barry Larkin to the roller coaster that was Pete Rose to the team's 1990 World Series championship and Todd Frazier's 2015 Home Run Derby win.

As the Civil War ended, the thoughts of many Northern soldiers turned to a game that some had learned about for the first time during the war--baseball. Their newfound interest in the sport, combined with the postwar economic boom and the resultant growth of many cities, took the game from one practiced by a few amateur clubs in New York City before the war to a professional sport covering almost the entire northeastern United States. Researched from primary sources, the game of the late 1860s is described season-by-season: the fields, the crowds, the strategy, the rules, the style of play, and the confusing struggles to crown a national champion, with all the chicanery and machinations of the contenders. Such landmark events as the Washington Nationals' pioneering 1867 tour and the Cincinnati Red Stockings' undefeated 1869 season are covered.

"Every magnate in the country is indebted to [Harry Wright] for the establishment of baseball as a business, and every patron for fulfilling him with a systematic recreation. Every player is indebted to him for inaugurating an occupation in which he gains a livelihood, and the country at large for adding one more industry to furnish employment"--The Reach Guide (1896). This full-length biography resurrects perhaps baseball's foremost-unrecognized legend, "The Father of Professional Base Ball," Hall of Famer Harry Wright. The son of a premier cricketer, Sam Wright, Harry converted (together with his Hall of Fame brother George) to baseball after emigrating to America from England. Harry Wright went on to become one of baseball's most successful players, managers, and innovators. Among his lasting contributions to the game were not only the implementation of spring training, doubleheaders, and the modern uniform, but the advent of professionalism, which contemporaries contended never would have been successfully established without him. Drawing on contemporary sources including his own papers, this book covers all of Wright's life: his arrival in America; his experiences with the undefeated Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869-70; his relationship with his wives and children; his experiences in Boston, Providence, and Philadelphia; his death at age 60 in 1895; and his election to the Hall of Fame in 1953.

During the Civil War, Americans from homefront to battlefront played baseball as never before. While soldiers slaughtered each other over the country's fate, players and fans struggled over the form of the national pastime. George Kirsch gives us a color commentary of the growth and transformation of baseball during the Civil War. He shows that the game was a vital part of the lives of many a soldier and civilian--and that baseball's popularity had everything to do with surging American nationalism. By 1860, baseball was poised to emerge as the American sport. Clubs in northeastern and a few southern cities played various forms of the game. Newspapers published statistics, and governing bodies set rules. But the Civil War years proved crucial in securing the game's place in the American heart. Soldiers with bats in their rucksacks spread baseball to training camps, war prisons, and even front lines. As nationalist fervor heightened, baseball became patriotic. Fans honored it with the title of national pastime. War metaphors were commonplace in sports reporting, and charity games were scheduled. Decades later, Union general Abner Doubleday would be credited (wrongly) with baseball's invention. The Civil War period also saw key developments in the sport itself, including the spread of the New York-style of play, the advent of revised pitching rules, and the growth of commercialism. Kirsch recounts vivid stories of great players and describes soldiers playing ball to relieve boredom. He introduces entrepreneurs who preached the gospel of baseball, boosted female attendance, and found new ways to make money. We witness bitterly contested championships that enthralled whole cities. We watch African Americans embracing baseball despite official exclusion. And we see legends spring from the pens of early sportswriters. Rich with anecdotes and surprising facts, this narrative of baseball's coming-of-age reveals the remarkable extent to which America's national pastime is bound up with the country's defining event.

Looks at the history of the Cincinnati Reds, describes the role of Riverfront Stadium in the city's rejuvenation, and examines the city's longterm relationship with baseball.