American Baseball. Vol. 3: From Postwar Expansion to the Electronic Age [Paperback]

David Quentin Voigt (Author), Clifford Kachline (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: American Baseball | Publication Date: 1983

The National Pastime has made big news and big money since its Silver Age (1900-1920), but what old-timer would have dreamed of TV networks bidding tens of millions for camera time, of baseballers getting paid like movie stars, or of all concerned - players, managers, owners, even umpires - having their lives exposed in intimate detail by keyhole journalists? So far the great American game has survived media hype, as this book shows, with the same vitality that brought it through the doldrums of World Wars I and II and the Great Depression and that withstood the shocks of racial integration and union organization.Voigt's overview of American baseball at mid-century shows both major and minor league attendance reaching peaks in 1950, then declining under competition from pro football, basketball, and hockey. Although the minors have steadily lost ground, the majors have held on to profitable turf thanks to westward expansion, night games, TV franchises, and new sources of talent. Black players numbered 100 by 1960 after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, while Hispanic baseballers from the Caribbean and Central America became almost as numerous. About half the big leaguers now hail from university and college teams, and platoons of scouts spot the best talent in high schools and on sandlots. Many of the post-World War II players have become baseball sters, and many have become media superstars.New owners took charge in the expansion era, men described by the author as "individualistic, competitive, and mercenary - qualities sometimes gentled by altruism." Walter O'Malley of the Dodgers is presented as a representative expansionist, a "throwback to the robber barons," a glory-seeker intent on erasing Branch Rickey's fame, and yet a modern Barnum devoted to giving fans their money's worth. A showdown between owners of this stripe and the players' hard-bargaining Marvin Miller seemed a no-win game for the fans.Yet, as America enters the 1980s, this book re

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Quentin Voigt has written five books on baseball history, plus America's Leisure Revolution on the sociology of leisure and sport. After earning an M.A. in American history at Columbia and a Ph.D. in social science at Syracuse, Dr. Voigt returned to his hometown of Reading, Pa., as professor of sociology and anthropology at Albright College.

Product Details

• Paperback: 413 pages
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press (1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0271003324
• ISBN-13: 978-0271003320
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,896,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, But Dated, November 2, 2011

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Ohioan - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Baseball. Vol. 3: From Postwar Expansion to the Electronic Age (Paperback)

This, the third and final volume in David Voigt's American Baseball, is every bit as interesting, as well researched, and as fascinating as the first two volumes. This one covers baseball from Postwar (WW II) through Expansion. But the book was published in 1983, so nearly 30 years have passed, and in those 30 years baseball has seen changes at least as huge as the ones that occurred between 1945 and 1983. It's not the author's fault that this is so, of course, but it does make this book feel a bit dated