Selling Baseball: How Superstars George Wright and Albert Spalding Impacted Sports in America
Autor Jeffrey Orensen Limba Engleză Hardback – 4 feb 2025
A fascinating look back on baseball's humble beginnings and its transformation into the national pastime, told through the lives of two men who dominated the game.
The nineteenth century was a time of rapid growth and development for the game of "base ball," and players George Wright and Albert Spalding were right in the thick of it. These two young men, the first superstars of the professional game, won the hearts of a country in search of a unifying spirit after a devastating civil war.
Selling Baseball: How Superstars George Wright and Albert Spalding Impacted Sports in America breathes fresh energy into baseball's beginnings with this captivating tale of two vibrant personalities whose friendly rivalry was integral to the rise of the professional game. While they came from starkly different backgrounds-Albert was a young, gangly pitcher from the country's rural heartland and George the consummate athlete from the New York City area-their captivating performances on the field, along with their promotion of the game and of sports equipment, fed the public's insatiable appetite for leisure-time pursuits and helped grow professional baseball to unprecedented heights.
George Wright and Albert Spalding's stories are masterfully woven together to paint a sweeping picture of the early days of professional baseball, the evolution of sports as a business, and the advancement of sports equipment and the sporting goods industry. Their rise as players and businessmen mirrored the rise of a nation that would lead the world in the coming century.
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Specificații
ISBN-13: 9781538189269
ISBN-10: 1538189267
Pagini: 274
Ilustrații: 12 BW Photos
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 x 19 mm
Greutate: 0.56 kg
Editura: Bloomsbury Publishing
Colecția Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Locul publicării:New York, United States
ISBN-10: 1538189267
Pagini: 274
Ilustrații: 12 BW Photos
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 x 19 mm
Greutate: 0.56 kg
Editura: Bloomsbury Publishing
Colecția Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Locul publicării:New York, United States
Recenzii
This interesting, twined biography of George Wright and Albert Spalding explores two baseball pioneers who moved from being leading stars to among the top promoters of the sport. The author explains the roles performed by the two men in selling baseball to the masses through Organized Baseball, the formation of leagues, and more activities designed to promote 'America's national pastime.'
A sneaky good baseball history.
In his fine book, Selling Baseball, Jeffrey Orens offers a uniquely sliced view: how Al Spalding and George Wright, superstars on the ball field, came to dominate its merchandising, building empires that extended to tennis, golf, and, yes, roller polo. Highly recommended, even to those who may know a thing or two about sports.
In Selling Baseball, Jeffrey Orens makes a compelling case that two early superstars went far beyond the ballfield to change the face of sports in America. All fans of early baseball and American cultural history owe Orens a debt for his entertaining and deeply sourced account of the remarkable rise of George Wright and Albert Goodwill Spalding.
In Selling Baseball, Jeffrey Orens provides his readers with a new perspective of the sport and the sports equipment industry through the long-overlooked relationship between Albert Goodwill Spalding and George Wright. The more than fifty-year friendship of these two on-the-field stars, Baseball Hall of Fame inductees, and sports equipment pioneers, transcended competition and launched baseball and other athletics to the status that we take for granted today. Thought provoking, instructive, and enjoyable-a must read.
Selling Baseball tells how the then-new game of baseball grew into the "National Pastime"-a big business complete with fanatic fans and professional teams-via the joint stories of two of baseball's most impactful pioneers, Hall of Famers George Wright and Albert Spalding. Whether on the ball field or in management, the duo helped shape the game as we know it today. Jeffrey Orens' Selling Baseball gives readers a grand tour of 19th century baseball, as well as of 19th century America.
Orens brings a fresh perspective and lively writing to the early years of professional baseball.
Orens' book invites us on a journey through American and baseball history from the 19th into the early 20th centuries. Through the eyes of two early baseball icons, Al Spalding and George Wright, we witness the evolution of the game, from the fun of underhanded pitching to its formation as a national economic enterprise. Along the way, we crisscross America with the famous Cincinnati Red Stockings; follow the game overseas; watch the rules, equipment, and economics of the game transform; and appreciate how American sports became big business. A must read for anyone fascinated by the interplay of sports and American society.
This book is a good primer on the early development of the business of professional baseball in the last one-third of the 19th century.
A sneaky good baseball history.
In his fine book, Selling Baseball, Jeffrey Orens offers a uniquely sliced view: how Al Spalding and George Wright, superstars on the ball field, came to dominate its merchandising, building empires that extended to tennis, golf, and, yes, roller polo. Highly recommended, even to those who may know a thing or two about sports.
In Selling Baseball, Jeffrey Orens makes a compelling case that two early superstars went far beyond the ballfield to change the face of sports in America. All fans of early baseball and American cultural history owe Orens a debt for his entertaining and deeply sourced account of the remarkable rise of George Wright and Albert Goodwill Spalding.
In Selling Baseball, Jeffrey Orens provides his readers with a new perspective of the sport and the sports equipment industry through the long-overlooked relationship between Albert Goodwill Spalding and George Wright. The more than fifty-year friendship of these two on-the-field stars, Baseball Hall of Fame inductees, and sports equipment pioneers, transcended competition and launched baseball and other athletics to the status that we take for granted today. Thought provoking, instructive, and enjoyable-a must read.
Selling Baseball tells how the then-new game of baseball grew into the "National Pastime"-a big business complete with fanatic fans and professional teams-via the joint stories of two of baseball's most impactful pioneers, Hall of Famers George Wright and Albert Spalding. Whether on the ball field or in management, the duo helped shape the game as we know it today. Jeffrey Orens' Selling Baseball gives readers a grand tour of 19th century baseball, as well as of 19th century America.
Orens brings a fresh perspective and lively writing to the early years of professional baseball.
Orens' book invites us on a journey through American and baseball history from the 19th into the early 20th centuries. Through the eyes of two early baseball icons, Al Spalding and George Wright, we witness the evolution of the game, from the fun of underhanded pitching to its formation as a national economic enterprise. Along the way, we crisscross America with the famous Cincinnati Red Stockings; follow the game overseas; watch the rules, equipment, and economics of the game transform; and appreciate how American sports became big business. A must read for anyone fascinated by the interplay of sports and American society.
This book is a good primer on the early development of the business of professional baseball in the last one-third of the 19th century.