Fans of baseball history will really enjoy this look at the issues baseball struggled with in its early years.
This is book 2 of 4 in the series on 1880s baseball from Rob Bauer. He is a member of SABR's 19th Century Baseball Research Committee.
Baseball fans realize how badly racism blighted baseball until Jackie Robinson started the process of change. This book helps to explain not only how baseball's color barrier came to be, but the other, more subtle ways that racism appeared in early baseball.
It also examines how gambling threatened baseball in the Gilded Age. Most surprising is its description of the importance of umpires. Although umpires generate little controversy today, in the 1880s they were among the most important issues in baseball. Several times each year brawls erupted over poor umpiring. Twice umpires killed fans in their own self-defense. This book explains how this situation became so serious. Don't miss the chance to learn about these critical aspects of baseball's early years.