The farmers' game : baseball in rural America / David Vaught.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vaught, David, 1958-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Baseball--United States--History.

Baseball.

Farm life.

History.

Country life.

United States.

Baseball--Social aspects--United States.

Baseball--Social aspects.

Country life--United States--History.

Farm life--United States--History.

United States--Rural conditions.

Rural conditions.

Physical Description:

xi, 214 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013.

Summary:

A journey through the national pastime's roots in America's small towns and wide-open spaces: "An absorbing read." -- The Tampa Tribune In the film Field of Dreams, the lead character 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. In The Farmers' Game, David Vaught examines the history and character of baseball through a series of essay-vignettes--presenting 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.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Playing Ball in Cooperstown in the Formative Years of the American Republic 12

Chapter 2 Baseball and the Transformation of Rural California 35

Chapter 3 Multicultural Ball in the Heyday of Texas Cotton Agriculture 50

Chapter 4 The Making of Bob Feller and the Modern American Farmer 76

Chapter 5 The Milroy Yankees and the Decline of Southwest Minnesota 104

Chapter 6 Gaylord Perry, the Spitter, and Farm Life in Eastern North Carolina 124.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781421407555

9781421408330

1421407558

1421408333

OCLC:

793973767