The Cambridge Companion to Baseball

by Edited by Leonard Cassuto , Stephen Partridge

• ISBN13: 9780521761826
• ISBN10: 0521761824
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-02-21
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Baseball is much more than a game. As the American national pastime, it has reflected the political and cultural concerns of US society for over 200 years, and generates passions and loyalties unique in American society. This Companion examines baseball in culture, baseball as culture, and the game's global identity. Contributors contrast baseball's massive, big-business present with its romanticized origins and its evolution against the backdrop of American and world history. The chapters cover topics such as baseball in the movies, baseball and mass media, and baseball in Japan and Latin America. Between the chapters are vivid profiles of iconic characters including Babe Ruth, Ichiro and Walter O'Malley. Crucial moments in baseball history are revisited, ranging from the 1919 Black Sox gambling scandal to recent controversies over steroid use. A unique book for fans and scholars alike, this Companion explains the enduring importance of baseball in America and beyond.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. viii
List of contributors	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Baseball: a chronology	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
The rules of baseball	p. 9
Baseball in literature, baseball as literature	p. 21
Babe Ruth, sabermetrics, and baseball's politics of greatness	p. 33
Interchapter: Babe Ruth	p. 45
Not the major leagues: Japanese and Mexican Americans and the national pastime	p. 49
Baseball and the color line: from the Negro Leagues to the major leagues	p. 61
Interchapter: Jackie Robinson and Curt Flood	p. 76
Baseball and war	p. 81
Baseball and the American city	p. 95
Interchapter: Walter O'Malley	p. 107
Baseball at the movies	p. 111
The baseball fan	p. 125
Baseball and material culture	p. 138
Interchapter: the Honus Wagner T-206 baseball card	p. 152
Global baseball: Japan and East Asia	p. 155
Interchapter: Roberto Clemente and Ichiro	p. 168
Global baseball: Latin America	p. 171
Cheating in baseball	p. 185
Interchapter: Pete Rose	p. 197
Baseball's economic development	p. 201
Interchapter: Andy Messersmith, Charlie Finley, and George Steinbrenner	p. 216
Baseball and mass media	p. 221
A guide to further reading	p. 241
Index	p. 245
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