Baseball may be just a game on the field, but off the field, its hold on the American heart, its place in American history, and its impact on American society are as powerful as a squad of clean-up hitters. For a pastime, this is serious stuff demanding serious reflection, and historian John P. Rossi steps up to provide it. Approaching his subject with the rigorous gravitas of an academician, the number-love of a statistician, the awe of a fan, and the inalienable right of all ticket-holders to offer analysis when the impulse strikes, his result mirrors a typical afternoon at the yard: The National Game sprinkles its share of action, intriguing fact, and observations that merit more amplification over a predictable and familiar narrative.
He tries to cover the bases, and he does. His examination of baseball's transition from a country game to a city game, and with it the enormously symbiotic role it played in introducing--and synthesizing--each new wave of immigrants into...
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