Our Game: An American Baseball History [Hardcover]

Charles C. Alexander (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1992

[This is the Audiobook CASSETTE Library Edition in vinyl case.]

[Read by Grover Gardner]

This entertaining history blends anecdote, incident, and analysis as it chronicles the story of our national pastime. Alexander covers the advent of the first professional baseball leagues, the game's surge in the early twentieth century, the Golden Twenties and the Gray Thirties, the breaking of the color line in the late forties, and the game's expansion to its current status as the premier team sport. He describes changing playing styles and outstanding teams and personalities but also demonstrates the many connections between baseball--as game, sport, and business--and the evolution of tastes, values, and institutions in the United States.

--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Alexander ( Ty Cobb ) teaches baseball history at Ohio University. This information-laden volume probably is intended as a classroom text but it also will appeal to the general reader. While not giving the last word on the game, Alexander offers insights into its evolution in the 19th century, including the struggle over whether the owners of teams would control the organized sport, and the way beseball changed during our century--from the low-scoring, hit-and-run contests of yore to the homerun explosion of the 1920s to the synthesis reached today (typified by players like Jose Canseco). Off-the-field developments like the demise of the reserve clause also are covered in this concise but thorough survey.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- This coherent narrative history captures the glory, the excitement, and the occasional scandal (from the Chicago "Black Sox" of 1919 to Pete Rose in the 1980s) that characterize the country's favorite sport. Entertaining and informative without flogging readers with a plethora of numbing statistics, Alexander's style should appeal to fans and students of baseball lore. A book that should readily lend itself as a tool in teaching modern American social and cultural history.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 388 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co; 1st edition (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805015949
• ISBN-13: 978-0805015942
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,011,396 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:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent account of our nation's greatest sport., April 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Our Game: An American Baseball History (Hardcover)

This book is truly one of the best books on baseball history I have ever read. I did have to read it for Dr. Alexander's baseball history course, but I enjoyed every minute of it. He is definitely the best historian I have ever met.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Crash Course in our National Pastime, January 22, 1999

By 

James Eddy (Tuscaloosa, AL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Our Game: An American Baseball History (Hardcover)

As the reviews allude, Our Game is a very good crash course in baseball history. Its more historical review than commentary on players. Alexander sticks pretty much to the facts and happenings of any given year in baseball, without delving into personal opinion on the events themselves. A good read for the baseball fans who wants to expand his knowledge of the game's history without going through too much trouble.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great historic guide, May 1, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Our Game: An American Baseball History (Hardcover)

Visiting the USA back in 92' I got hooked on baseball and wanted a general outline of how the game developed, was organized, played professionally - and of course I also wanted the stories of legends and get my hands on some of the triva, we europeans never heard of before. "Our Game" gave all that to me, and more. Well written, with a rock-solid historic overview, this book is a great historic guide for a true baseball-novice like myself. I will add, that I have a college degree in history and therefore can compare "Our Fame" with other historic monographs. In my opinion it rates among the best. To me it was meant as a booster and from here I moved on to read more detailed studies and books on the subject