Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball [Paperback]

Warren Goldstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1991 | ISBN-10: 0801499240 | ISBN-13: 978-0801499241

In the late 1850s organized baseball was a club-based fraternal sport thriving in the cultures of respectable artisans, clerks and shopkeepers, and middle-class sportsmen. Two decades later it had become an entertainment business run by owners and managers, depending on gate receipts and the increasingly disciplined labor of skilled player-employees. Playing for Keeps is an insightful, in-depth account of the game that became America's premier spectator sport for nearly a century. Reconstructing the culture and experience of early baseball through a careful reading of the sporting press, baseball guides, and the correspondence of the player-manager Harry Wright, Warren Goldstein discovers the origins of many modern controversies during the game's earliest decades. The 20th Anniversary Edition of Goldstein's classic includes information about the changes that have occurred in the history of the sport since the 1980s and an account of his experience as a scholarly consultant during the production of Ken Burns's Baseball.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Goldstein sees clearly that baseball's history is not only linear-that is, its events unfold chronologically-but also cyclical-that is, the same things tend to happen again and again. This repetition binds each generation of fans to the preceding ones and makes the emotional response to the game so intense. In the late 1850s, baseball was a club-based sport enjoyed by artisans, clerks, and shopkeepers who played for fun. Two decades later, it was a business run by owners and managers who employed players in an effort to make a profit. Goldstein analyzes the hows and whys of this transformation."-Sporting News

"Rich in delicious information, Playing for Keeps argues that the first years of baseball established patterns of double thinking that still govern the complaints and yearnings of fans. Playing for Keeps tells its story with affection. Its calming long perspective should reassure lovers of the game-or business-as we approach new crises and apparent transformations."-New York Times Book Review

"Baseball remains our paradise lost, a perpetual disappointment, where the best hitters make outs two-thirds of the time and the home team seldom if ever makes it to October. One of the many virtues of Warren Goldstein's Playing for Keeps is that it explains why we continue to care, our hopes eternally and absurdly renewed each spring and dashed each autumn. . . . This is a marvelous book, tightly structured, entertaining, beautifully written; and, like the best social history, it focuses on the particular (the story of baseball) to enlarge our understanding of the general (American society and culture)."-The Nation

"A strikingly original interpretation of baseball's early history, Playing for Keeps is imaginatively conceived and rich in texture. It is not only commendable for its treatment of baseball history but appreciably expands our knowledge of nineteenth-century American urban life in general."-Journal of American History --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Warren Goldstein is Professor of History at the University of Hartford. He is the author of William Sloane Coffin, Jr.: A Holy Impatience and coauthor of A Brief History of American Sports. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (March 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801499240
• ISBN-13: 978-0801499241
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,686,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A walk, not a hit, August 29, 2005

By 

mrliteral - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball (Paperback)

In baseball terms, Warren Goldstein's book is a walk, not a hit. It's good, but you always feel there was a more satisfying way to get to first base. As a fan of baseball and an avid reader of history, this book seemed like a natural fit for me, but while decent, there was also something missing.

Covering the history of baseball up to 1876 (when the National League came into being), The History of Early Baseball follows the development of the sport from an amateur recreation to a professional competition. In the beginning (in the 1850s), the early versions of baseball were played by clubs who would occasionally compete with each other. There wasn't much rhyme or reason to which teams played each other or even the exact rules. The people who played were from all walks of life, and it was strictly a part-time activity.

Eventually, however, the game got refined. Players started playing specific positions and the best players started representing the clubs. Eventually, to guarantee that such players wouldn't defect, money got into the equation. The transition from amateur recreation to professional sport was gradual but inevitable.

The principal flaw with the book is that Goldstein writes as a historian, and this subject may be better covered by a sports writer. Goldstein is interested in the changing economics of the game and the struggle between the management and the players. This is a fine subject, but the result is that we lose some sense of the sport itself. We don't read much about particular players or teams or games; in addition, the different rules of the 19th century game are not discussed in depth (with the exception of the "fly-ball rule"). Every baseball era has its stars, from Cap Anson to Ty Cobb to Babe Ruth to Ted Williams to Hank Aaron; certainly the early baseball era should have a couple, too, but Goldstein really doesn't discuss these people.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and many baseball fans will too. The problem I mentioned does not keep the book from being an interesting read, but it does prevent it from getting a five star rating. Nonetheless, this is a recommended read for fans of the game.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Precise and to the point., December 31, 2000

By 

Historydoctor (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball (Paperback)

Warren Goldstein has written a extensive book on the early beginnings of baseball as a national past-time. He begins with the formation of base ball clubs during the 1850's and takes the history through the formation of the National League in 1876. During this time he highlights the transformation from a game played for fun and recreation to one played as a business. His insight into the history of the post-Civil War Era and the Industrial Revolution add to the social aspect of why baseball emerged into the professional sport which it became. He uses primary sources and footnotes them readily throughout the book. This is a must book for any fan of the game who wants to know the social evolution of the game as well as the famous participants and teams.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative, November 23, 2001

By 

Eric Miklich (North Babylon, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball (Hardcover)

A nicely written book regarding the beginings of base ball from 1857 - 1876. A great book for the baseball historian.