Baseball's Hometown Teams: The Story of the Minor Leagues (Major league memories) [Hardcover]

Bruce Chadwick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1997 | Series: Major league memories

Major League play has attracted the glitz and the glamour, but until the days of television most Americans came to know the national pastime through the Minor League teams. In this enjoyable history, evocative photos and a lively text trace the Minors from their origins to the revival they are enjoying today. Hundreds of photographs provide more than a century's worth of nostalgia. Ardent fans and casual readers alike will find the next to be an endless source of delightful facts and trivia: Former New York Governor Moro Cuomo once played for Pittsburgh's farm team in New Brunswick, Gerorgia; Liz Taylor was once a cheerleader for the Hollywood Stars; and the outfield in the Beckley, West Virginia, park ran right to the edge of a 400-foot cliff, discouraging even the most intrepid fielder from diving for a home-run fly! This is truly a one-of-a-kind history that will delight baseball fans, collectors and student of America alike.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From the Durham Bulls to the Seattle Rainiers, America has pursued a love affair with minor-league baseball since the 18th century. Baseball's Hometown Teams, an attractive compilation of mostly vintage black-and-white photos and accompanying text, pays tribute to this sometimes overlooked part of the national pastime.

From Booklist

Minor-league baseball teams were once a focal point of rural and small-town life. With limited entertainment options, a ball game was a perfect way to pass a weekend afternoon. Chadwick, who has written for Sports Illustrated and the New York Daily News, engages readers in a leisurely and informative stroll--illustrated with dozens of striking black-and-white photographs--along baseball's backroads. He covers the earliest years, when teams were really local clubs manned by local players, through the glory years when each major-league team had a legion of minor-league branches. He also charts the demise of minor-league ball through the 1960s and 1970s when television and other entertainment venues combined to rob the minors of both fans and dollars. He points out an overlooked factor in the minors' diminishing fan base during that time: Little League. The recent resurgence of minor-league baseball is also explored at length. A beautifully illustrated and thoughtfully written book that emphasizes America's love affair with the game of baseball, not necessarily with the major leagues. Wes Lukowsky --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Artabras (June 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896600904
• ISBN-13: 978-0896600904
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 9.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,336,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Incomplete yet still impressive., October 3, 2000

By 

Melissa Garland "melissag915" (O'Fallon, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Baseball's Hometown Teams: The Story of the Minor Leagues (Major league memories) (Hardcover)

I loved the history and the photos presented in this book. However, as a Midwest League fan, I found this book really out of date when dealing with the present, but that is also a problem of the constant shifting within the system. But still, it seems that with its publishing date, the information about the addition of clubs like the Michigan Battle Cats, the Lansing Lugnuts and the shifting of the parent club for the West Michigan Whitecaps to the Detroit Tigers would have made it in there. Important because these three clubs have won four of the last five championships.

So, a good book for long-ago history, but not nearly enough attention paid to the present game.