From its modest beginnings in rural America to its current status as an entertainment industry in postindustrial America enjoyed worldwide by millions each season, the linkages between baseballs evolution and our nations history are undeniable. Through war, depression, times of tumultuous upheaval and of great prosperity baseball has been held up as our national pastime: the single greatest expression of Americas values and ideals. Combining a comprehensive history of the game with broader analyses of Americas historical and cultural developments,National Pastimeencapsulates the values that have allowed it to endure: hope, tradition, escape, revolution. While nostalgia, scandal, malaise and triumph are contained within the study of any American historical moment, we see in this book that the tensions and developments within the game of baseball afford the best window into a deeper understanding of Americas past, its purpose, and its principles.

Martin C. Babiczteaches history at the University of Colorado Boulder for the Sewall Hall History& Culture Residential Academic Program, the Communications& Society Residential Academic Program, and the History Department. Dr. Babicz teaches several courses on American History including America through Baseball. He is the author of a chapter exploring the historiography of sports and pastimes of the 1920s inA Companion to Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover (2014).Thomas W. Zeileris a professor of history at the University of Colorado at Boulder where he directs the Program in International Affairs. He teaches and researches on U.S. foreign policy, diplomatic history, globalization, World War II, and sports history. Among the courses he teaches is America through Baseball. Dr. Zeilers books includeAmbassadors in Pinstripes: The Spalding World Baseball Tour and the Birth of the American Empire (Rowman& Littlefield).

AcknowledgmentsForewordChapter 1: Baseball in Tocquevilles America (To 1870)Chapter 2: The Industrialization of Leisure (1871 to 1883)Chapter 3: Color and Global Barriers (1865 to 1918)Chapter 4: The American Labor Movement& the Players League (1884 to 1891)Chapter 5: Progressivism and the American League (1892 to 1903)Chapter 6: Normalcy and the Black Sox Scandal (1904 to 1922)Chapter 7: Babe Ruth and the Roaring Twenties (1920 to 1929)Chapter 8: Segregation and the Negro Leagues (1896 to 1949)Chapter 9: Baseball and the Great Depression (1929 to 1940)Chapter 10: Baseball Goes to War (1941 to 1945)Chapter 11: Jackie Robinson and Civil Rights (1946 to 1987)Chapter 12: The Postwar American Century (1945 to 1964)Chapter 13: Change and Revolution (1960 to 1975)Chapter 14: Baseball in Post-Industrial America (Since 1975)Chapter 15: A Global Game (Since 1865)Epilogue: TraditionsBibliographic Essay