"Baseball: The Early Years" by Harold Seymour (Oxford University Press, 1959).
Traces the growth of the sport from the time of the first recorded game at Valley Forge during the Revolution to the formation of the two present major leagues in 1903. Besides meticulously chronicling the game's early development, Dr. Seymour details the influence of baseball on American business, manners, morals, social institutions ... and show business. 365 pages of terrific storytelling.
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