Baseball; A historical narrative of the game, the men who have played it, and its place in American life

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1947. Third Printing [stated]. Hardcover. Good/Fair. Russell R. Gale. xiv, [2], 362, [6] pages. Illustrated endpapers. Contents include A Bat, A Ball and A Glove; As It Was in the Beginning; The Age of the Muffin; Round Plate and Square Pitch; Father of Baseball; The King, The Captain, and The Boss; The Freshest Man on Earth; The Great Rebellion; Gunpowder for Breakfast; The Wild Irishman and the Gentle Indian; Low Characters and High Finance; "Kill the Umpire"; Little Napoleon; Underhand and Overhand; Infielders and Outfielders, The Lord High Executioner; The One and Only, Fireball and Screwball; Can You Spare a Dime?; Gangsters, Bums, and Heroes; "Every Time I Wheel About...", Second Best and Best; The Swing of the Pendulum; Wholesale Attendance and Chain-store Baseball; and And Ever Shall Be. Robert Smith was a prolific author of books about sports. Mr. Smith's many books included ''Baseball,'' ''Heroes of Baseball,'' ''Baseball in America'' and ''Babe Ruth's America.'' He also collaborated on Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway's memoir, ''The Korean War,'' published in 1967. Derived from a Kirkus review: A book that has caught the spirit of baseball from its early days, full of the outstanding personalities, teams, events that have helped make baseball America's most popular sport. Thumbnail sketches of the great, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Radbourne, Waddell, Hal Chase, etc. and many others who have made millions of fans. From strikeouts to bonehead plays, this has a lot of famous past history which will be remembered as long as baseball is a favorite game to see and read about.