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leonBruce sent this to me personally so I will share...I don't read too much but this one looks to be good...
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Morris (Game of Inches) explores the earliest days of baseball through the voices of players and journalists who wrote about it in the 27-year period in the mid-19th century before professional baseball emerged. The earliest versions of bat-and-ball games—some of the variants are town ball, wicket and even patch ball—were eventually displaced and standardized in 1845 when the Knickerbocker Club of New York City published rules that eliminated such practices as throwing the ball and hitting a base runner (an act sometimes known as soaking) to make an out. The text is an intriguing study for students of baseball history curious about how aspects of the game developed, such as the foul ball, sliding, balls and strikes, and the role of the umpire. As the game spread from its origins in New York and its popularity grew, Morris writes that two factors brought the pioneer era of amateur play to an end: the Civil War and the increasing seriousness of players who changed games from ceremonial pastime to cutthroat competitions. Morris has done vast research and quotes many of his sources at length. His focus on a detailed account of baseball's development, however, does not provide much insight into the people who played the game. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Stefan Fatsis, author of Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius,and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players and Wild and Outside: How a Renegade Minor League Revived the Spirit of Baseball in America's Heartland
"[Peter Morris is] one of America's preeminent baseball historians. But Didn't We Have Fun? is exhaustively researched and artfully written."
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Product Details
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher (March 25, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1566637481
ISBN-13: 978-1566637480
Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: (7 customer reviews)
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #143,921 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
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