{"product_id":"9780195042207","title":"A.G. Spalding and the Rise of Baseball: The Promise of American Sport","description":"\u003cp\u003eA. G. Spalding was a key figure in the professionalization and commercialization of American sports. Co-founder of baseball's National League, owner of the Chicago White Stockings (later the Cubs), and founder of a sporting goods business that made him a millionaire, Spalding not only willed baseball to be our national pastime but also contributed to making sport a significant part of American life. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis biography captures the zest, flamboyance, and creativity of Albert Goodwell Spalding, a man of insatiable ego, a showman and entrepreneur, whose life illuminated the hopes and fears of 19th-century Americans. It is a vivid evocation of the vanished world of 19th-century baseball, recreating a time when it was transformed from a game played on unkempt fields to modern style.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47022515814640,"sku":"9780195042207","price":39.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780195042207_p0.jpg?v=1763663715","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780195042207","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}