Baseball's Radical for All Seasons: A Biography of John Montgomery Ward (American Sports History Series) [Hardcover]

David Stevens (Author)

Book Description

Series: American Sports History Series | Publication Date: November 13, 1998

This is the first biography of one of the most adventurous and influential figures in baseball history. John Montgomery Ward, an orphan, began his adult life with the inauspicious distinction of being expelled from Penn State University. However, he went on to refashion himself into a wealthy sports idol, feared radical, and businessman.

Born in 1860, Ward pushed himself and the cutting edge of sports as hard as he could until his death in 1925. Despite his experience at Penn State, he earned two degrees from Columbia University. As a baseball player, Ward starred on four world champion teams. As a pitcher, Sandy Koufax is the closest match-up to his career statistics; as a shortstop, the nearest counterpart is Ozzie Smith. However, he was as famous for his stormy affairs with Broadway actresses as he was for his statistics. Outside of the stadium, Ward was an early players' rights attorney who, by age 25, founded the first union for athletes, and in 1886 attempted to bring black players into the major leagues Ward led a rebellion of players against the National League in 1890, only to see his union and the Players' League snuffed out. Ward finished his life as an early American golfing star and the happy husband of a women's suffragist.

This important biography traces early American baseball and sports labor history, and includes photographs of Ward, his family, and his friends, including early baseball compatriots.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In a year when all bios seem to feature McGwire or Sosa...Baseball's Radical for All Seasons fills a real void...well-researched profile of Ward. (Baseball Illustrated )

Ward was among the most fascinating figures of the 19th century. (Jerome Holtzman Chicago Tribune )

Ward made much more than baseball history. He made American history. Every baseball fan and historian should read this remarkable book. (Bill Gleason The Sports Writers )

...brings Ward to life in all his fiery glory. David Stevens follows his early travels thoroughly and in a chronological order that is easily traced...a fascinating glimpse into the life of an early baseball pioneer...excellent research and many stories of his exploits. (Journal Of Sport History )

Player, manager, labour leader, [Ward's] life offers a window on many of the conflicts of professional baseball in the late nineteenth century...Readers learn much concerning the game on the field at the end of the nineteenth century, how major leaguers understood themselves then, a considerable history of baseball in New York and its relation to New York fashion at the turn of the twentieth century and the history of the reserve clause and baseball's relation to the struggles of capital and labour. (Interational Journal Of The History Of Sport )

If you are a baseball fan you will enjoy this book. If you like to read biographies of fascinating individuals from a much younger America, this book will most certainly hold your attention. You will find this book a most valuable read...Stevens has hit a home run with his first book. (James Dworkin, Associate Dean )

About the Author

David Stevens first became interested in John Montgomery Ward at age 13. He has degrees from the University of Maryland and DePaul University, and has worked as a college history instructor.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Scarecrow Press (November 13, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810834545
• ISBN-13: 978-0810834545
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,332,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars John Montgomery Ward was a True Labor Leader; he deserves more Scholarly Analysis, June 3, 2007

By 

Roger D. Launius "Historian" (Washington, D.C., United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Baseball's Radical for All Seasons: A Biography of John Montgomery Ward (American Sports History Series) (Hardcover)

One of the most contentious issues throughout the history of major league baseball is employee relations. The owners and the players have been fighting it out throughout the more than the 150 years of professional baseball. Most of that time the owners have had the upper hand, but it might not have turned out that way had John Montgomery Ward gotten his way. He led an effort in the 1880s and 1890s to gain more authority, and thereby more money, for the players in the National League. It failed, but the story is fascinating; modestly told in this short biography.

Ward deserves better. His off field activities are far more important than anything he did on the diamond, and author David Stevens missed an opportunity to analyze in depth his employee relations efforts, especially his attempt to form a union and the creation of the ill-fated Player's League. Of course, Stevens talks about these efforts, but I had hoped for a more in-depth, scholarly discussion. For such an analysis I would recommend "Never Just a Game: Players, Owners, and American Baseball to 1920" (University of North Carolina Press, 1994) by Robert Fredrick Burk. There are also other better biographical works on Ward, including a superb biography by Bryan Di Salvatore, "A Clever Base-Ballist: The Life and Times of John Ward Montgomery" published by Pantheon Books in 1999.