It's been more than a century since Connecticut had big league baseball, but in the 1870s, Middletown, Hartford, and New Haven fielded professional teams that competed at the highest level. By the end of the decade, when the state's final big league team, Mark Twain's beloved Hartford Dark Blues, left the National League, baseball's transition from amateur pastime to major league sport had been accomplished. And Connecticut had played a significant role in its development. The history of the Nutmeg State's three major league teams is described here in full, and the author thoughtfully examines their influence within the regional baseball scene.

In this delightful history of the sport, Frommer captures the flavor, smell, and craziness of the early days of baseball. Starting with its invention in 1842 by the descendant of a British sea captain (and not Abner Doubleday), Frommer traces the development of the sport from the first games on a vacant lot at 27th and Madison in New York to the turn of the century, when the National League was emerging as the preeminent forum for truly professional baseball.

Though baseball would eventually come to embody the American spirit, in the nineteenth century onlookers regarded the game with some ambivalence. To capture the hearts of the public, baseball needed teams worth watching--and no team was a better ambassador for baseball in the 19th century than the New York Giants. The pre-John McGraw Giants were occasionally very good and frequently very fashionable, but they had not yet become the trademark team of the National League that they would become in the early 20th century. The Giants were, however, one of the league's premier teams simply because they played in the country's premier city. New York and its Giants epitomized the rise of industrialized America and the need for organized spectator diversions. Together, the city and the team helped propel baseball into its position as the national pastime.

One of the greatest pitchers of his era, William Arthur "Candy" Cummings was born in 1848, when baseball was in its infancy. In the 1870s, Candy's invention, the curveball, played a transformative role and earned him a place in the Hall of Fame. Drawing on extensive research, this first full-length biography traces Candy's New England heritage and chronicles his rise to the top, from pitching for amateur teams in mid-1860s Brooklyn to playing in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players--the first major league--and then the newly-formed National League. A critical examination of the evidence and competing claims reveals that Cummings was, indeed, the originator of the curveball.

The Official Treasures of Major League Baseball tells the rich and fascinating history of baseball through hundreds of photographs and an exhaustively researched and lucid text.

Whether Connecticut fans were cheering on Connecticut teams in baseballs major and minor leagues or watching their native sons participate in Americas favorite pastime all across the country, they have taken satisfaction in the contributions of the Nutmeg State. As former Commissioner of Baseball Fay Vincent notes in his foreword, Don Harrison has lovingly assembled the best selections from a lifetime spent covering Connecticuts corner of the game. Read twenty-five interviews from his own forty-three-year career and discover even older traditions that date back to Hartfords entrance into the majors in the 1870s. You might disagree with Harrisons choices for a Connecticut All-Time Teamthats half the funbut you will find it hard to resist the enthusiasm that has united so many fans of the sport.