Abner Doubleday and Baseball's Idol of Origins -- Playing Ball in Cooperstown in the Formative Years of the American Republic -- Baseball and the Transformation of Rural California -- Multicultural Ball in the Heyday of Texas Cotton Agriculture -- The Making of Bob Feller and the Modern American Farmer -- The Milroy Yankees and the Decline of Southwest Minnesota -- Gaylord Perry, the Spitter, and Farm Life in Eastern North Carolina -- Vintage Ball
Summary
The author 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. This book does not deny or devalue the lively stickball games played in the streets of Brooklyn, but highlights the history of the game in the rural United States as related and mutually revealing