How baseball evolved with shocking speed from a casual folk game into a serious adult activity, an instrument of national unification and then a national entertainment industry.
WINNER OF THE CASEY AWARD: BEST BASEBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR
“Explores the conditions and factors that begat the game in the 19th century and turned it into the national pastime. The book explains how almost all conventional wisdom about baseball’s origins and formative years is wrong. A delightful look at a young nation creating a pastime that was love from the first crack of the bat.”
—Wall Street Journal
“Best gift book of the year! Gilbert digs deep into baseball history to separate fact from fiction when it comes to the origins of the American pastime. He contends that neither Abner Doubleday, Alexander Cartwright nor Henry Chadwick fathered the game but rather it was originated by a group of amateurs in New York City.”
—New York Post
“Baseball has fabricated its own history several times over, but its origin story matters. In this entertaining narrative, Gilbert shows how the game was developed by amateurs, in part to introduce healthier habits and the sporting life in a country that didn't really have either.”
—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“Brilliantly gathers hidden treasure long buried in newspaper accounts and diaries to present a rich and nuanced picture of American baseball as it grew and blossomed. Along the way, he explodes myths that have long shaped our understanding of this great game. This is a tart and funny trip through the raucous and aspiring culture that shaped baseball, with its volunteer firefighters, urban professionals, bloodstained butchers, and brawling gamblers.”
—Edward Achorn, author of Every Drop of Blood: The Summer of Beer and Whiskey and Fifty-nine in ’84
“A lively and often funny account of how baseball became THE national sport. At once irreverent and loving, Gilbert explodes baseball's founding myths while painting a rich portrait of a forgotten America. For baseball lovers and history buffs alike.”
—Robert Kagan, author of The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World
“A brilliant new approach to our game and its author tells a hundred stories you haven’t heard before.”
—John Thorn, Official Historian, Major League Baseball
