"Everyone who loves the game of baseball carries with him a memory of the game's golden age: when players played the game for love; when they were loyal to their teams; when they were a part of their community; when long train rides on road trips bred close friendships and cruel practical jokes; when they were with and among us as heroes, but as people, too. Baseball under the blazing sun, on God's green grass. Baseball played with heart, and with joy. Baseball in the Afternoon." "For most of us, those memories are cherished, but they are false; the baseball world was really not so different when we were young. For Robert Smith, though, those memories - augmented by a lifetime of friendships with the greats and near-greats of the game - are of a truly different age. The memories of the men Smith came to know in his youth reach back to the infancy of the game, back to when men in whiskers and knickers rode from town to town taking on all comers; to when the self-proclaimed Greatest Feller on Earth, Chris von der Ahe, bankrupted himself throwing grand parties to celebrate the latest triumph of the team he owned, his beloved St. Louis Browns; to the real first black players in baseball, Oberlin-educated Moses Fleetwood Walker and his brother Welday, who played briefly for Toledo in the American Association in 1884; and on through the reminiscences of Waite Hoyt, one of the many men able to say, "I didn't room with Babe Ruth; I roomed with his suitcase." Smith's rich, evocative prose reminds us all of why we fell in love with baseball in the first place, and shows us pieces of the game's history we may never have seen before." "Once every ten years or so a book with this kind of charm and appeal comes along: Lawrence Ritter's The Glory of Their Times. Fred Lieb's Baseball As I Have Known It. And now Baseball in the Afternoon. It's the baseball book of a lifetime."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Taken for granted by fans today, Sunday baseball was made possible only after decades of contention between evangelical Sabbatarians seeking enforcement of antiquated "blue laws," and an alliance of "Pro-Sabs" who prevailed against them with strategy and tenacity. At the heart of the struggle was a debate over the First Amendment and the place of religion in public life. Drawing on case records, this book details the legal and political battles and describes the roles of the judges, law enforcement officers and politicians, and the ordinary citizens who wanted to enjoy baseball on Sunday. The contributions of unheralded civil rights pioneers--such as Joe Neet, John Powell and Lewis Perrine--are documented.

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION (1948) - Here is Joe DiMaggio’s inside story of baseball, an instructive and entertaining survey of the game written expressly for fan and player alike — the bleacher fan, the sand-lot player, the high school athlete, and anyone who has ever swung a bat or whooped it up for the home team. Never before in one volume has baseball been covered so thoroughly. Joe DiMaggio, idol of today’s baseball world, probes the arts of batting, base running, coaching, strategy, and play at each of the nine positions. Through his own experiences and those of a hundred other major leaguers, he tells of life in the Big Leagues, World Series play, anecdotes about old-time players such as Shanty Hogan and Casey Stengel and contemporary figures like Bill Dickey and Bob Feller. With the aid of sketches and photographs, DiMaggio explains in detail how Lou Gehrig learned to go far to his right for a ground ball; how a shortstop often relays the catcher’s signals to the outfield; how a batter protects a base runner; how a pitcher grips the ball for a sinker, a curve, and a knuckler. Read what old-time catcher Shanty Hogan remembers about life in the Eastern League. (“We called it the ‘Up and At ’em League’—up all night and at ’em all day.”). Or what colorful Casey Stengel said about barnstorming from town to town in automobiles. (“Never let a pitcher who lost a close game that afternoon be your driver that night.”) DiMaggio consulted many authorities in this study of the game. His advisory board of baseball experts included Frankie Frisch, former second baseman and manager of the St. Louis Cardinals; Bill Dickey, former catcher for the New York Yankees; Carl Hubbell, former New York Giant pitcher; Art Fletcher, New York Yankee coach, and Red Barber, Sports Director for C.B.S. Baseball for Everyone is a warm and revealing story of our favorite national pastime, written by the game’s most outstanding exponent, Joe DiMaggio. For sixteen years DiMaggio patrolled center field for the New York Yankees. Three times he was designated the American League’s most valuable player, and in 1947 he won the Sportsman-of-the-Year trophy awarded by Sports Magazine. Illustrated with 9 Halftones and 17 Line Drawings by Lenny Hollreiser

Major league baseball has a long, rich history in Brooklyn. From the time Brooklyn started play in 1884 until their move west to Los Angeles following the 1957 season, the Dodgers and their predecessors were the emotional center of the borough's diverse population. But Brooklyn would be without a professional team until June of 2001, when the Cyclones took the field in Coney Island as the Mets' affiliate for the New York-Penn League. This work follows the rookie-level club from its formation through it first season. Brooklyn Dodgers Carl Erskine, Duke Snider, Clem Labine, Johnny Podres, Ralph Branca, Joe Pignatano and Clyde King comment on their own minor league days, and their days in Brooklyn. Also included are interviews of Cyclones players and fans of both teams.

From the genesis of baseball in the 1840s, when so-called "kranks" cheered the teams of their choice, fans have been an ever-present component of the sport. As the number of fans has increased over the years, their influence has increased proportionally. Following the evolution of the game and its fans over more than a century, this book examines the role fans have played in the formation of modern baseball and the part the sport has played in the lives of its devotees. How have fans influenced, reacted to, or been affected by baseball's changes through history? How do fans determine player popularity? Are there famous fans--and how do they manifest that interest? How has the evolution of baseball in the media, including newspapers, radio, and television, affected the fan base? The answers to these questions and more give a lively feel to this baseball history from a fan's perspective. The final chapter sums up the fan's importance to the sport of baseball.