{"product_id":"9780812978704","title":"Baseball: A History of America's Favorite Game","description":"\u003cp\u003e“Football is force and fanatics, basketball is beauty and bounce. Baseball is everything: action, grace, the seasons of our lives. George Vecsey’s book proves it, without wasting a word.”\u003cbr\u003e–Lee Eisenberg, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Number\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eBaseball\u003c\/i\u003e, one of the great bards of America’s Grand Old Game gives a rousing account of the sport, from its pre-Republic roots to the present day. George Vecsey casts a fresh eye on the game, illuminates its foibles and triumphs, and performs a marvelous feat: making a classic story seem refreshingly new. \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBaseball\u003c\/i\u003e is a narrative of America’s can-do spirit, in which stalwart immigrants such as Henry Chadwick could transplant cricket and rounders into the fertile American culture and in which die-hard unionist baseballers such as Charles Comiskey and Connie Mack could eventually become the tightfisted avatars of the game’s big-money establishment. It’s a celebration of such underdogs as a rag-armed catcher turned owner named Branch Rickey and a sure-handed fielder named Curt Flood, both of whom flourished as true great men of history. But most of all, \u003ci\u003eBaseball \u003c\/i\u003eis a testament to the unbreakable bond between our nation’s pastime and the fans, who’ve remained loyal through the fifty-year-long interdict on black athletes, the Black Sox scandal, franchise relocation, and the use of performance-enhancing drugs by some major stars. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eReverent, playful, and filled with Vecsey’s charm, \u003ci\u003eBaseball \u003c\/i\u003ebegs to be read in the span of a rain-delayed doubleheader, and so enjoyable that, like a favorite team’s championship run, one hopes it never ends.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Vecsey possesses a journalist’s eye for detail and a historian’s feel for the sweep of action. His research is scrupulous and his writing crisp. This book is an instant classic—— a highly readable guide to America’s great enduring pastime.” — \u003ci\u003eThe Louisville Courier Journal \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Random House Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47016595357936,"sku":"9780812978704","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780812978704_p0.jpg?v=1763745421","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780812978704","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}