LEADER 04651nam 2200613 450 001 9910464723003321 005 20211008020400.0 010 $a1-4008-5136-X 024 7 $a10.1515/9781400851362 035 $a(CKB)3710000000092374 035 $a(EBL)1632630 035 $a(OCoLC)871631848 035 $a(SSID)ssj0001211712 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11687426 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0001211712 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)11206521 035 $a(PQKB)10854252 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC1632630 035 $a(DE-B1597)447744 035 $a(OCoLC)979905405 035 $a(DE-B1597)9781400851362 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL1632630 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10844204 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL578853 035 $a(EXLCZ)993710000000092374 100 $a20140320h19961996 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurnn#---|u||u 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aCreating the national pastime $ebaseball transforms itself, 1903-1953 /$fG. Edward White 205 $aCourse Book 210 1$aPrinceton, New Jersey ;$aChichester, [England] :$cPrinceton University Press,$d1996. 210 4$dİ1996 215 $a1 online resource (385 p.) 300 $aIncludes index. 311 0 $a0-691-05885-7 327 $tFront matter --$tContents --$tIllustrations --$tPreface --$tIntroduction --$tChapter One. The Ballparks --$tChapter Two. The Enterprise, 1903-1923 --$tChapter Three. The Rise of the Commissioner: Gambling, the Black Sox, and the Creation of Baseball Heroes --$tChapter Four. The Negro Leagues --$tChapter Five. The Coming of Night Baseball --$tChapter Six. Baseball Journalists --$tChapter Seven. Baseball on the Radio --$tChapter Eight. Ethnicity and Baseball: Hank Greenberg and Joe DiMaggio --$tChapter Nine. The Enterprise, 1923-1953 --$tChapter Ten. The Decline of the National Pastime --$tNotes --$tIndex 330 $aAt a time when many baseball fans wish for the game to return to a purer past, G. Edward White shows how seemingly irrational business decisions, inspired in part by the self-interest of the owners but also by their nostalgia for the game, transformed baseball into the national pastime. Not simply a professional sport, baseball has been treated as a focus of childhood rituals and an emblem of American individuality and fair play throughout much of the twentieth century. It started out, however, as a marginal urban sport associated with drinking and gambling. White describes its progression to an almost mythic status as an idyllic game, popular among people of all ages and classes. He then recounts the owner's efforts, often supported by the legal system, to preserve this image. Baseball grew up in the midst of urban industrialization during the Progressive Era, and the emerging steel and concrete baseball parks encapsulated feelings of neighborliness and associations with the rural leisure of bygone times. According to White, these nostalgic themes, together with personal financial concerns, guided owners toward practices that in retrospect appear unfair to players and detrimental to the progress of the game. Reserve clauses, blacklisting, and limiting franchise territories, for example, were meant to keep a consistent roster of players on a team, build fan loyalty, and maintain the game's local flavor. These practices also violated anti-trust laws and significantly restricted the economic power of the players. Owners vigorously fought against innovations, ranging from the night games and radio broadcasts to the inclusion of African-American players. Nonetheless, the image of baseball as a spirited civic endeavor persisted, even in the face of outright corruption, as witnessed in the courts' leniency toward the participants in the Black Sox scandal of 1919. White's story of baseball is intertwined with changes in technology and business in America and with changing attitudes toward race and ethnicity. The time is fast approaching, he concludes, when we must consider whether baseball is still regarded as the national pastime and whether protecting its image is worth the effort. 606 $aBaseball$zUnited States$xHistory$y20th century 606 $aBaseball$xSocial aspects$zUnited States$xHistory$y20th century 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aBaseball$xHistory 615 0$aBaseball$xSocial aspects$xHistory 676 $a796.357/09/041 700 $aWhite$b G. Edward$0307837 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910464723003321 996 $aCreating the national pastime$92446411 997 $aUNINA