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| Baseball: The Early Years (Oxford Paperbacks) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Harold Seymour, Dorothy Z. Seymour, Dorothy Jane Mills
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $44.99
Buy Used: $5.44
You Save: $39.55 (88%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 779974
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 392
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.5 x 1
ISBN: 0195059123
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.35709
EAN: 9780195059120
ASIN: 0195059123
Publication Date: July 13, 1989
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back! Usually ships within 24-48 hours.
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Product Description
These two critically-acclaimed volumes mark the beginning of a monumental multi-volume study of baseball by the man whom Sports Illustrated has called "the Edward Gibbon of baseball history." Now available in paperback, Harold Seymour's The Early Years and The Golden Age together recount the true story of how baseball came into being and how it developed into a highly organized business and social institution.
The first volume, The Early Years, traces the growth of baseball from the time of the first recorded ball game at Valley Forge during the revolution until the formation of the two present-day major leagues in 1903. By investigating previously unknown sources, Seymour uncovers the real story of how baseball evolved from a gentleman's amateur sport of "well-bred play followed by well-laden banquet tables" into a professional sport where big leagues operate under their own laws. Offering countless anecdotes and a wealth of new information, Seymour explodes many cherished myths, including the one which claims that Abner Doubleday "invented" baseball in 1839. He describes the influence of baseball on American business, manners, morals, social institutions, and even show business, as well as depicting the types of men who became the first professional ball players, club owners, and managers, including Spalding, McGraw, Comiskey, and Connie Mack.
The second volume, The Golden Age, explores the glorious era when the game truly captured the American imagination, with such legendary figures as Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb in the spotlight. Beginning with the formation of the two major leagues in 1903, when baseball officially entered its "golden age" of popularity, Seymour examines the changes in the organization of professional baseball--from an unwieldy three-man commission to the strong one-man rule of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. He depicts how the play on the field shifted from the low-scoring, pitcher-dominated game of the "dead ball" era before World War I to the higher scoring of the 1920's "lively ball" era, with emphasis on home runs, best exemplified by the exploits of Babe Ruth.
Taken together, these volumes offer a serious and dramatic study of the game both on the field and in the business offices.
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| Customer Reviews:
 The Old Ball Game January 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I read this book about ten years ago, and I loved it. It tells you everything you need to know about baseball in its formative years. It certainly isn't for everyone. Seymour is a historian, and he writes like one, getting into every aspect of the game. It's not merely a book about the players, though they do make up a large part of it. There's also much about the owners, the umpires, the rules, the stadiums. It is a comprehensive, well-researched, and very well-written history of the old ball game. This book takes you there.
Great for anyone looking for the roots of the game!!! September 24, 2007
This book gives great details into baseballs past. The author takes time to descirbe the feelings of both the players and fans on the sideline. At some times the reader may find themselves lost in the baseball time line, but with a little bit of bak tracking and side notes you will find your place in time. I only wish the book went deeper into the player's lives, but the ideal is the establishment of the game. You will set this book down knowing the truth of the game and the men who made it the way it is today. Good Read!!!!!
 Be forewarned - Not new, and a man's work March 2, 2006
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
My wife bought this book many years ago for me, and I enjoyed it. I saw there was a new edition out, so I bought it, but it's not updated or revised, it just has the author's ex-wife's name appended to it now.
 Maybe this is what some people are looking for... March 12, 2005
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
..., but it was not what I wanted to read. I love to read about baseball, and especially about 19th century baseball. However, this book deals more extensively with the management of the early leagues, and the development of the rules, administration, the problems of revolving, etc. I wanted to read about Ross Barnes, Deacon White, and the other great players of the era. I've seen the stats, but I am still looking for the book that will bring the National Association players back to life. (Any suggestions?)
Like I alluded to at the beginning, this may be just what you want to read. But if you are looking for a book about the players and what happened between the foul lines (and in the saloons), you might want to look somewhere else. (I much prefer David Nemec's "The Beer And Whisky League," on the narrower topic of the AA.)
The archetype for any publication about baseball history. September 22, 1997
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Aside from the most comprehensive view of early baseball, Harold Seymour provides incredible insight as he takes the reader through every vital detail about the game's heritage. For a book written 40 years ago, it shows the author's masterful foresight of what baseball would, and did, become. Particularly compelling is how he shreds the Abner Doubleday myth before doing so was popular. His compilation and timeless analyses of baseball's sometimes painful adolescence gives the reader a solid baseline for understanding the difficulties that the sport is enduring today. It's fascinating proof that those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it. Anybody interested in baseball history will want to run right out and get his second volume, "The Golden Age" as soon as they finish this one
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