"Spink provides a history of baseball before 1910; position-by-position biographies of former players and of every major league player of that era; sketches of managers, magnates, journalists, and umpires; the lineup of every championship team from 1871 to 1910 World Series."--Back cover.

This engaging study examines sports as both a symbol of American culture and a formative force that shapes American values. Leverett T. Smith Jr. uses "high" culture, in the form of literature and criticism, to analyze the popular culture of baseball and professional football. He explores the history of baseball through three important events: the fixing of the 1919 World Series, the appointment of Judge Landis as commissioner of baseball with dictatorial powers, and the emergence of Babe Ruth as the "new" kind of ball player. He also looks at literary works dealing with leisure and sports, including those of Thoreau, Twain, Frost, Lardner, and Hemingway. Finally he documents the emergence of professional football as the national game through the history and writings of former Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, who emerges as both a critic of the business-oriented society and a canny businessman and manager of men himself. First paperback edition

Go is a board game of skill and strategy. In this way, it could be likened to Chess but there are no other similarities. It is an extremely difficult game to learn and has not really taken hold much outside Japan.

This book is in great demand by baseball enthusiasts. Having been connected with every department of the game from player to magnate, Mr. Spalding has contributed a very important work to the game's history. As the invincible pitcher of the Boston Club, previous to the formation of the National League, his book of so many pages is an interesting record of events dating from the beginning of the great American pastime. It is not exactly a history of the game, but deals largely with incidents during the author's career, who was a player in the late 1860s and early 1870s, and helped organize the National League in 1876. One chapter, devoted to sundry topics, gives an account of the sale of the immortal "King Kelly," the original "$10,000 beauty," by Chicago to the Boston Club in the late 1880s. Other Chapters are devoted to the literature of the game, quoting several instances of the baseball paragrapher's art and also specimens of the distinct poetry of the pastime, of which "Casey at the Bat" is probably the most widely known. The Cincinnati Red Stockings Mr. Spalding gives credit as being the pioneer professional organization. It was not, however, until 1871 that professional baseball playing, as recognized today, was instituted. Mr. Spalding shows how cricket could not do for Americans. He says it is suitable for the British temperament, but not for the Yankee hustling spirit. He also tells how he worked into the game through a one-handed catch when a small boy. To lovers of baseball, whose name is legion, and whose number increases yearly, this book comprises in itself a whole library of useful information.

Peverelly's Book of American Pastimes, which covered several sports from badminton to horseracing, is best known for its dominant chapter on base ball, "The National Game." It is the first historical-reference book ever published about the sport, and includes the rosters of the most prominent early clubs with results of games played from their beginnings through 1866. The original 200-page chapter, a seminal work of baseball historiography, is reproduced here in full, supplemented by contemporary images and captions by nineteenth-century baseball historians John Freyer and Mark Rucker.

India is a sport loving country. Where different games are popular in different regions, every state in India has its unique game/sport. But when we talk about a Nation it comes to one game that is Cricket. Countries like Brazil-Football, USA- Basketball, China- Marshal Arts etc people are crazy for these game/sports. Though cricket is so popular and loved game in India it is not the national game. Hockey is the oldest known ball and stick game: records exist of it being played in Persia in BC 2000. The modern name "Field Hockey" first appeared in England in the 14th century.

"Morris successfully weaves the intricacies of baseball's history into a compelling narrative while giving us a keen analysis of its larger significance. It is rare to find someone who can pull that off. This is an absorbing and distinguished addition to sports history, to Taiwanese history, and to studies of colonialism and its aftermath."--William Kelly, Yale University "Colonial Project, National Game offers an engaging and penetrating analysis of the culture of baseball in Taiwan, in both its local and global conditions. Morris weaves details into a compelling narrative that is as much about the game on the field as the game being played out in the arenas of ethnicity, nationalism and geopolitics. Morris's study is a model of sophistication and lucidity. He demonstrates that through a perceptive reading of the mundane world of curve balls and player contracts, we can better understand the ideological substructure of the social."--Joseph R. Allen, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities