A01=David Vaught
Abner Doubleday
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Author_David Vaught
automatic-update
Bob Feller
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=KNS
Category=KNSP
Category=SCX
Category=SFC
Category=WSBX
Category=WSJT
Cooperstown
COP=United States
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
eq_bestseller
eq_business-finance-law
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_sports-fitness
gambling
Gaylord Perry
Language_English
multicultural
PA=Available
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
rural culture
rural decline
softlaunch
townball
Product details
- ISBN 9781421407555
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 28 Feb 2013
- Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Anyone who has watched the film "Field of Dreams" can't help but be captivated by the lead character's vision. He gives his struggling farming community a magical place where the smell of roasted peanuts gently wafts over the crowded grandstand on a warm summer evening just as the star pitcher takes the mound. Baseball, America's game, has a dedicated following and a rich history. Fans obsess over comparative statistics and celebrate men who played for legendary teams during the "golden age" of the game. In "The Farmers' Game", David Vaught examines the history and character of baseball through a series of essay-vignettes. He presents the sport as essentially rural, reflecting the nature of farm and small-town life. Vaught does not deny or devalue the lively stickball games played in the streets of Brooklyn, but he sees the history of the game and the rural United States as related and mutually revealing. His subjects include nineteenth-century Cooperstown, the playing fields of Texas and Minnesota, the rural communities of California, the great farmer-pitcher Bob Feller, and the notorious Gaylord Perry.
Although-contrary to legend-Abner Doubleday did not invent baseball in a cow pasture in upstate New York, many fans enjoy the game for its nostalgic qualities. Vaught's deeply researched exploration of baseball's rural roots helps explain its enduring popularity.
David Vaught is department head and professor of history at Texas A&M University. His four books include After the Gold Rush: Tarnished Dreams in the Sacramento Valley and Cultivating California: Growers, Specialty Crops, and Labor, 1875-1920, both published by Johns Hopkins.
