Baseball before We Knew It

A Search for the Roots of the Game

David Block, Tim Wiles

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Hardback

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English

Bison Books
01 March 2005

History: specific events & topics; Baseball

It may be America's game, but no one seems to know how or when baseball really started. Theories abound, myths proliferate, but reliable information has been in short supply--until now, when Baseball before We Knew It brings fresh new evidence of baseball's origins into play. David Block looks into the early history of the game and of the 150-year-old debate about its beginnings. He tackles one stubborn misconception after another, debunking the enduring belief that baseball descended from the English game of rounders and revealing a surprising new explanation for the most notorious myth of all--the Abner Doubleday-Cooperstown story. Block's book takes readers on an exhilarating journey through the centuries in search of clues to the evolution of our modern National Pastime. Among his startling discoveries is a set of long-forgotten baseball rules from the 1700s. Block evaluates the originality and historical significance of the Knickerbocker rules of 1845, revisits European studies on the ancestry of baseball which indicate that the game dates back hundreds, if not thousands of years, and assembles a detailed history of games and pastimes from the Middle Ages onward that contributed to baseball's development. In its thoroughness and reach, and its extensive descriptive bibliography of early baseball sources, this book is a unique and invaluable resource--a comprehensive, reliable, and readable account of baseball before it was America's game. David Block is a long-time collector of early baseball books and memorabilia, and is a passionate, lifelong fan of the game and its history.

By: David Block
Foreword by: Tim Wiles
Imprint: Bison Books
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 612g
ISBN: 9780803213395
ISBN 10: 0803213395
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 01 March 2005
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Replaced By: 9781496242693
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

David Block is a long-time collector of early baseball books and memorabilia, and is a passionate, lifelong fan of the game and its history.

Reviews for Baseball before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game

By pushing beyond baseball's reputed origins in an English children's game, David Block has discovered the game's true origins in an even older English game. --Times Literary Supplement, 12 August 2005 Baseball before We Knew It is a magnificent piece of work that puts an end to the myths and errors that have clouded our understanding of where and how our national game began and developed. This definitely settled, we are now also clear about the source and cause of the previous notions--altogether a masterpiece of research agreeably presented. --Jacques Barzun, author of From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life--1500 to the Present Baseball before We Knew It is an important book, erudite, entertaining and truly groundbreaking. David Block goes beyond debunking the game's creation myths to creating a knowledge base upon which all future research will rely. This brilliant book takes a place on my shelf alongside Seymour, Voigt, and Henderson. --John Thorn, editor of Total Baseball