 2011 edition covers | |
| |
| Author | |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Published | 1960–1989 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| No. of books | 3 |
Baseball is a three-volume book series about the history of baseball by historians Harold Seymour and Dorothy Seymour Mills. The series, praised for its research and fact-finding, is widely considered to be the first scholarly examination of the game's history.
The book series' origins came from Harold Seymour's 1956 Ph.D. dissertation which was entitled The Rise of Major League Baseball to 1891. Oxford University Press approached him to expand the dissertation into a book which became the first of three volumns. [1]
Working alongside Seymour was his wife Dorothy. Seymour found that his wife's work was indispensable to him. She did majority of the research, organized material, and structured the notes for the first and second volumes of the work. Dorothy wrote most of the third volume herself as Harold's health had deteriorated significantly and he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. However, during Harold's lifetime, Dorothy did not get any credit for her contributions. [2]
In 2011, Oxford University Press co-credited Seymour Mills as the co-author of the trilogy, alongside her husband, finally acknowledging her contributions to baseball, with her name coming first on the third book which she almost entirely written herself. [3]
The first volume was the extension of Harold Seymour's dissertation, documenting the origins and early years of baseball and tracing its rise from its amateur era and to the beginnings of Major League Baseball (MLB). The book notably successfully debunked the myth that Civil War General Abner Doubleday invented baseball. [4]
The second volumn continues from the game's development in the early 20th-century, during what is often called the "Golden age of baseball", when baseball became the "National Pastime" for Americans. It also covers the onset of the live ball era, after the notorious Black Sox scandal threatened to tarnish the game, and how the business model evolved as a result. [5]
The third and final volumn, unlike the first two, is devoted to baseball outside organized baseball and MLB. It covers amateur and semi-professional baseball and players, college baseball, baseball in the military, Negro league teams, and women's teams. [6]
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league and the highest level of organized baseball in the United States and Canada. One of the big four major leagues, MLB comprises 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. Formed in 1876 and 1901, respectively, the NL and AL cemented their cooperation with the National Agreement in 1903, making MLB the oldest major professional sports league in the world. They remained legally separate entities until 2000, when they merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball. MLB is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.
The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and statistical record of baseball. The organization was founded in Cooperstown, New York, on August 10, 1971, at a meeting of 16 "statistorians" coordinated by sportswriter Bob Davids. The organization now reports a membership of over 7,500 and is based in Phoenix, Arizona.
The history of baseball can be broken down into various aspects: by era, by locale, by organizational-type, game evolution, as well as by political and cultural influence. The game evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century. This game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. By the late 19th century, baseball was widely recognized as the national sport of the United States, and had begun to spread throughout the Pacific Rim and the Americas. Today, baseball is popular in North America and parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and East Asia, particularly in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.
The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from 1878 until 1885. The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National League title twice, in 1879 and 1884. Following the 1884 season, they won the first World Series over the New York Metropolitans of the American Association. The team folded after the 1885 season.
Kitty Burke was a nightclub entertainer from Cincinnati, Ohio who was noted for being the only female to ever attempt to bat in a Major League Baseball game, albeit unofficially.
William Paul Coughlin, nicknamed "Scranton Bill", was an American Major League Baseball third baseman for the Washington Senators (1901–1904) and Detroit Tigers (1904–1908). Coughlin spent his entire adult life (1899–1943) playing and coaching baseball, as a major league player, minor league coach, and spending his last 23 years as the head baseball coach at Lafayette College, in Easton, Pennsylvania.
Toni Stone, born as Marcenia Lyle Stone, was an American female professional baseball player who played in predominantly male leagues. In 1953, she became the first woman to play as a regular on an American major-level professional baseball team when she joined the Indianapolis Clowns in the previously all-male Negro leagues. A baseball player from her early childhood, she also played for the San Francisco Sea Lions, the New Orleans Creoles, the Indianapolis Clowns, and the Kansas City Monarchs before retiring from baseball in 1954. Stone was taunted at times by teammates, once being told, "Go home and fix your husband some biscuits", but she was undeterred. It has been widely reported that during an exhibition game in 1953, she hit a single off a fastball pitch delivered by legendary player Satchel Paige, although the claim has failed verification.
Baseball was popularized in Cuba by Nemesio Guillot, who founded the first major baseball club in the country. It became the most played sport in the country in the 1870s, before the period of American intervention.
Theodore P. Breitenstein was an American Major League Baseball pitcher from St. Louis, Missouri who played from 1891 to 1901 for the St. Louis Browns/Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds. He is best known for throwing a no-hitter in his first Major League start, along with the "Pretzel Battery" with fellow German-American battery mate Heinie Peitz.
Leslie Mann was an American athlete and sports administrator. He played college football and professional baseball, and went on to coach football, baseball, and basketball. He was the founder and first president of the International Baseball Federation (IBF), the predecessor to the modern World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).
Women have a long history in American baseball and many women's teams have existed over the years. Baseball was played at women's colleges in New York and New England as early as the mid-nineteenth century; teams were formed at Vassar College, Smith College, Wellesley College, and Mount Holyoke College. An African American women's team, the Philadelphia Dolly Vardens, was formed in 1867.
Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives established players practice time prior to competitive play. Spring training has always attracted fan attention, drawing crowds who travel to the warm climates of Arizona and Florida to enjoy the weather and watch their favorite teams play.
Gary Gillette is a baseball writer, author, and editor. He is co-editor of both the ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia and the ESPN Football Encyclopedia. For both series of books, he partnered with noted statistician Pete Palmer, as well as writers Sean Lahman and Matt Silverman.
Ernest Theodore Lindemann was an American professional baseball player who played in 1907.
Nathaniel Calvin Strong was an American sports executive who was an officer and owner in Negro league baseball.
The Doubleday myth is the claim that the sport of baseball was invented in 1839 by the future American Civil War general Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, New York. In response to a dispute over whether baseball originated in the United States or was a variation of the British game rounders, the Mills Commission was formed in 1905 to seek out evidence. Mining engineer Abner Graves authored a letter claiming that Doubleday invented baseball. The letter was published in a newspaper and eventually used by the Mills Commission to support its finding that the game was of American origin. In 1908, it named Doubleday the creator of baseball.
Mary Elizabeth Murphy, known as "The Queen of Baseball", was the first woman to play baseball against major league players, in 1922. She played baseball for seventeen years as a first baseman; she also played on several all-star teams and was the first person of either sex to play on both American and National league baseball All-Star teams.
Dorothy Jane Mills, known as Dorothy Seymour Mills, was an American baseball researcher, author, and novelist who authored and co-authored over thirty books, fiction and non-fiction, over her life.
Harold Seymour was an American baseball historian and academic who is best known as the co-author of the baseball history trilogy: Baseball: The Early Years, Baseball: The Golden Age, Baseball: The People's Game. Though Seymour was initially credited as the sole author of the highly acclaimed trilogy, his wife Dorothy Seymour Mills was the one who did much of the extensive research and writing for the books.
