At the Old Ballgame: Stories From Baseball's Golden Era

by Jeff Silverman (Editor)

Overview

Before multimillion-dollar salaries, luxury boxes, and player strikes became synonymous with professional sports, there existed the belief in playing simply "for the love of the game." Nothing captures that spirit better than these twenty classic pieces about America's favorite pastime.
Collected here are the writings of Ring Lardner, Zane Grey, the Giants' immortal Christy Mathewson, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Finley Peter Dunne (who for a time was America's most popular humorist after Mark Twain), Burt Standish (creator of that all-American hero, Frank Merriwell), and many more. Baseball's golden era may have long since passed, but in the pages of At the Old Ballgame, you can still sit in the bleachers for a nickel.

Relive the golden era of baseball with timeless classics from:
Albert G. Spalding
Henry Chadwick
Ernest Lawrence Thayer
Grantland Rice
Sol White
Brig. Gen. Fredrick Funston
Zane Grey
Candy Cummings
Alfred H. Spink
Burt L. Standish
Lester Chadwick
Finley Peter Dunne
Christy Mathewson
Damon Runyon
Grover Cleveland Alexander
Gerald Beaumont
Ring Lardner
Hugh Fullerton
Ralph D. Blanpied
Charles E. Van Loan
P.G. Wodehouse

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762796496
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	02/18/2014
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 10.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Jeff Silverman, a former columnist for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, has written for The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and several national magazines. He is also editor of The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told, Lardner on Baseball, The Greatest Golf Stories Ever Told, Classic Golf Stories, Bernard Darwin on Golf, and The Greatest Boxing Stories Ever Told.

Table of Contents

Introduction x

Why Base Ball Has Become Our National Game Albert G. Spalding 1

The Model Base Ball Player Henry Chadwick 11

Casey at the Bat Ernest Lawrence Thayer 14

Casey's Revenge Grantland Rice 18

The Color Line Sol White 23

A Whale of a Pastime Brig. Gen. Frederick Funston 30

The Rube's Honeymoon Zane Grey 36

How I Pitched the First Curve Candy Cummings 56

Discovering Cy Young Alfred H. Spink 60

Varsity Frank Burt L. Standish 64

Baseball Joe's Winning Throw Lester Chadwick 77

Mr. Dooley on Baseball Finley Peter Dunne 89

Jinxes and What They Mean to a Ball-Player Christy Mathewson 94

One Down, 713 to Go Damon Runyon 113

How I Lost the 1915 World Series Grover Cleveland Alexander 118

The Crab Gerald Beaumont 127

My Roomy Ring Lardner 150

The Longest Game Ralph D. Blanpied 181

Fullerton Says Seven Members of the White Sox Will Be Missing Next Spring Hugh S. Fullerton 185

His Own Stuff Charles E. Van Loan 188

The Pitcher and the Plutocrat P. G. Wodehouse 220

The Slide of Paul Revere Grantland Rice 238

Sources 241