When baseball’s reserve clause was struck down in late 1975 and ushered in free agency, club owners feared it would ruin the game; instead, there seemed to be no end to the “baseball fever” that would grip America. In Gathering Crowds: Catching Baseball Fever in the New Era of Free Agency, Paul Hensler details how baseball grew and evolved from the late 1970s through the 1980s. Trepidation that without the reserve clause only wealthy teams would succeed diminished when small-market clubs in Minnesota, Kansas City, and Boston found their way to pennants and World Series titles. The proliferation of games broadcast on cable and satellite systems seemed to create a thirst for more baseball rather than discourage fans from going to the ballpark. And as fans clicked the turnstiles and purchased more and more team-licensed products, the national pastime proved it could survive and thrive even as other professional sports leagues vied for the public’s attention. By the end of the 1980s, baseball had positioned itself to progress into the future stronger and more popular than ever. Gathering Crowds reveals how the national pastime moved beyond the grasp of the reserve clause to endure a lengthy strike and drug scandals and then prosper as it never had before. The book also offers insight into how societal issues influenced baseball in this new era, from women in the clubhouses and minorities finally named as managers to a gay player’s debut at the big-league level. Gathering Crowds is a fascinating examination of baseball’s transformation during this unprecedented era.

A lot happened in baseball in 1980. After being stabbed with a penknife in Mexico during spring training, the Indians' "Super Joe" Charboneau captured Cleveland's heart--and Rookie of the Year. Nolan Ryan became baseball's first Million Dollar Man, Reggie Jackson twice found himself looking down the wrong end of a gun, and George Brett posted the highest single-season batting average since 1941. The Phillies and Expos battled up to the season's final weekend while the Dodgers tilted against the Astros in a one-game playoff for the division title. In the American League, Brett led Kansas City past the mighty Yankees and into the Series, where slugger Mike Schmidt and the Phillies awaited. This book covers it all.

The 1982 St. Louis Cardinals played an entertaining style of baseball built on speed and defense. The roster was constructed and piloted by Whitey Herzog, a baseball visionary who tailored his team for the AstroTurf and spacious dimensions of Busch Stadium. Herzog traded for closer Bruce Sutter, speedsters Lonnie Smith and Willie McGee, and defensive wizard Ozzie Smith, adding to a talented roster that included the likes of Bob Forsch, Keith Hernandez, and George Hendrick. The result was an exhilarating season filled with winning streaks, numerous obstacles, and one unforgettable steal of home. The Cardinals won the National League pennant despite hitting the fewest home runs in the major leagues, then overcame baseball’s most powerful team—the Milwaukee Brewers—in the World Series. This exhaustive account chronicles the Cardinals from Herzog’s rebuild to the final out of the Fall Classic. Hundreds of sources, including original interviews, were compiled to revisit a championship season and tell the backstories of an eclectic group of players who reached baseball’s pinnacle.

Every serious baseball fan can attest to the perennial excellence of stars like Babe Ruth and Ken Griffey, Jr. But how many can recall the exploits of Fred Dunlap, George Stone, Bobby Shantz, or Mark Fidrych? Each of these players performed like a superstar for a single season, but none of them came close to replicating that success in subsequent years. Some achieved early success and flamed out, while others overcame early setbacks to achieve brief stardom late in their careers. Some were one-year wonders, and others sustained solid careers after setting an early standard that they would never again reach. This book contains the bittersweet stories of 30 such players who tantalized their fans with visions of greatness, but ultimately fell short.

What happens when you ask 30 of the most creative people you know to each write a short story based on one of the 200 fortune cookie fortunes you've collected over the past decade? I had to find out. The result is FORTUNE'S FOOLS: A collection of short stories.

In 2007, the Mitchell Report shocked traditionalists who were appalled that drugs had corrupted the "pure" game of baseball. Nathan Corzine rescues the story of baseball's relationship with drugs from the sepia-toned tyranny of such myths. In Team Chemistry , he reveals a game splashed with spilled whiskey and tobacco stains from the day the first pitch was thrown. Indeed, throughout the game's history, stars and scrubs alike partook of a pharmacopeia that helped them stay on the field and cope off of it: In 1889, Pud Galvin tried a testosterone-derived "elixir" to help him pile up some of his 646 complete games. Sandy Koufax needed Codeine and an anti-inflammatory used on horses to pitch through his late-career elbow woes. Players returning from World War II mainstreamed the use of the amphetamines they had used as servicemen. Vida Blue invited teammates to cocaine parties, Tim Raines used it to stay awake on the bench, and Will McEnaney snorted it between innings. Corzine also ventures outside the lines to show how authorities handled--or failed to handle--drug and alcohol problems, and how those problems both shaped and scarred the game. The result is an eye-opening look at what baseball's relationship with substances legal and otherwise tells us about culture, society, and masculinity in America.