Live All You Can: Alexander Joy Cartwright and the Invention of Modern Baseball

Laying waste to the notion that Abner Doubleday established the modern game of baseball, acclaimed biographer Jay Martin makes a bold case for A. J. Cartwright (1820-1892), an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and avid ballplayer whose keen perception and restless spirit codified the rules of the sport and engineered its rapid spread throughout the country.

Consulting Cartwright's personal correspondence and papers, Martin shows how this American archetype synthesized a number of elements from p...