Early Innings - by Dean A Sullivan (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This compilation of 120 primary writings documents baseball's first century, from a loosely organized village social event to the arrival of the National League. Collecting from a wide range of sources--including newspaper accounts, letters, folk poetry, songs, and annual guides--Dean A. Sullivan of Fairfax, Virginia, progresses chronologically from the earliest known baseball reference (1825) to the creation of the Doubleday Myth (1908).

From the Back Cover

This collections of 120 documents illuminates the beginnings of baseball as it evolved from a casual, loosely organized village social event before the Civil War to the national, formally organized, and thoroughly capitalist and professional undertaking of the twentieth century.

Review Quotes

"[Shows] just how compelling original documents can be when shaped into a narrative . . . that includes tales of attitudes, alliances, and deceits, as well as the development of performances, rules, and equipment."--Canadian Journal of the History of Sport

"Ancient myths are shattered and new facts are uncovered."--USA Today Baseball Weekly

"Fascinating collection."--Washington Post

"Readers [get] a box seat at the game that became a national obsession."--London Review of Books

About the Author

Benjamin G. Rader, author of Baseball: A History of America's Game is a professor of history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.