William M. Simons is professor of history at the State University of New York–Oneonta. Alvin L. Hall is director of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania.

“weighty in both thought and size...recommended”—Library Journal.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface (Alvin L. Hall)Introduction (William M. Simons)Part 1: Mythic Heroes Keynote Address (George Plimpton)How Thomson’s Shot Heard Round the World Changed My Life and Made Me a Hero (Oren Renick)The Right Myths at the Right Time: Myth Making and Hero Worship in Post-Frontier American Society—  Rube Waddell vs. Christy Mathewson (Alan H. Levy)Baseball’s Ethnic Heroes: Hank Greenberg and Joe DiMaggio (Joseph Dorinson)Searching for Hank Greenberg: Aviva Kempner’s Mythic Hero and Our Fathers  (William M. Simons)“Your” Bears to “Our” Bears: Race, Memory, and Baseball in Newark, New Jersey   (Robert Cvornyek)The House That Ruth Built, and Pop Opened: Negro League Baseball at Yankee Stadium (Lawrence D. Hogan)Wendell Smith’s Last Crusade: The Desegregation of Spring Training (Brian Carroll)Part 2: Media MythologyBaseball and Supernatural Intervention: Cinematic Reflections on the Crisis of Confidence in Post–World War II America (Ron Briley)The Actor as Ballplayer, the Ballplayer as Actor (George Grella)“The Curious Case of Sidd Finch” and For Love of the Game: The Perfect Game as Mythical Literature (Craig This)The Symbiosis Between Baseball and Broadcasting (Paul D. Staudohar)The Pitch: Baseball and Advertising in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries (Roberta Newman)Baseball Fiction for Youth (Pamela Barron and Gail Dickinson)For the Record and Lives That Mattered: American Baseball Autobiographies (Thomas L. Altherr)Baseball Haiku: Basho, the Babe, and the Great Japanese-American Trade (Edward J. Rielly)Part 3: Myth and MysteryBaseball and Freemasonry in American Culture (Charles DeMotte)Claude Hendrix: Scapegoat or the Ninth Man Out? (George M. Platt)Baseball, Transcendence, and the Return to Life (Phil Oliver) Part 4: Myths in ProgressFrom Scientific Baseball to Sabermetrics: Professional Baseball as a Reflection of Engineering and Management in Society (Richard J. Puerzer)Youth Select Baseball in the Midwest (David C. Ogden)Labor Rights and the Restructuring of Major League Baseball, 1969–1992: A Case Study of Franchise Performance and the Myth of Baseball Management (Robert H. Jackson)Establishing Women’s Professional Baseball (Elizabeth Tempesta)Index

William M. Simons is professor of history at the State University of New York–Oneonta. Alvin L. Hall is director of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania.

“weighty in both thought and size...recommended”—Library Journal.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface (Alvin L. Hall)Introduction (William M. Simons)Part 1: Mythic Heroes Keynote Address (George Plimpton)How Thomson’s Shot Heard Round the World Changed My Life and Made Me a Hero (Oren Renick)The Right Myths at the Right Time: Myth Making and Hero Worship in Post-Frontier American Society—  Rube Waddell vs. Christy Mathewson (Alan H. Levy)Baseball’s Ethnic Heroes: Hank Greenberg and Joe DiMaggio (Joseph Dorinson)Searching for Hank Greenberg: Aviva Kempner’s Mythic Hero and Our Fathers  (William M. Simons)“Your” Bears to “Our” Bears: Race, Memory, and Baseball in Newark, New Jersey   (Robert Cvornyek)The House That Ruth Built, and Pop Opened: Negro League Baseball at Yankee Stadium (Lawrence D. Hogan)Wendell Smith’s Last Crusade: The Desegregation of Spring Training (Brian Carroll)Part 2: Media MythologyBaseball and Supernatural Intervention: Cinematic Reflections on the Crisis of Confidence in Post–World War II America (Ron Briley)The Actor as Ballplayer, the Ballplayer as Actor (George Grella)“The Curious Case of Sidd Finch” and For Love of the Game: The Perfect Game as Mythical Literature (Craig This)The Symbiosis Between Baseball and Broadcasting (Paul D. Staudohar)The Pitch: Baseball and Advertising in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries (Roberta Newman)Baseball Fiction for Youth (Pamela Barron and Gail Dickinson)For the Record and Lives That Mattered: American Baseball Autobiographies (Thomas L. Altherr)Baseball Haiku: Basho, the Babe, and the Great Japanese-American Trade (Edward J. Rielly)Part 3: Myth and MysteryBaseball and Freemasonry in American Culture (Charles DeMotte)Claude Hendrix: Scapegoat or the Ninth Man Out? (George M. Platt)Baseball, Transcendence, and the Return to Life (Phil Oliver) Part 4: Myths in ProgressFrom Scientific Baseball to Sabermetrics: Professional Baseball as a Reflection of Engineering and Management in Society (Richard J. Puerzer)Youth Select Baseball in the Midwest (David C. Ogden)Labor Rights and the Restructuring of Major League Baseball, 1969–1992: A Case Study of Franchise Performance and the Myth of Baseball Management (Robert H. Jackson)Establishing Women’s Professional Baseball (Elizabeth Tempesta)Index

William M. Simons is professor of history at the State University of New York–Oneonta. Alvin L. Hall is director of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania.

“weighty in both thought and size...recommended”—Library Journal.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface (Alvin L. Hall)Introduction (William M. Simons)Part 1: Mythic Heroes Keynote Address (George Plimpton)How Thomson’s Shot Heard Round the World Changed My Life and Made Me a Hero (Oren Renick)The Right Myths at the Right Time: Myth Making and Hero Worship in Post-Frontier American Society—  Rube Waddell vs. Christy Mathewson (Alan H. Levy)Baseball’s Ethnic Heroes: Hank Greenberg and Joe DiMaggio (Joseph Dorinson)Searching for Hank Greenberg: Aviva Kempner’s Mythic Hero and Our Fathers  (William M. Simons)“Your” Bears to “Our” Bears: Race, Memory, and Baseball in Newark, New Jersey   (Robert Cvornyek)The House That Ruth Built, and Pop Opened: Negro League Baseball at Yankee Stadium (Lawrence D. Hogan)Wendell Smith’s Last Crusade: The Desegregation of Spring Training (Brian Carroll)Part 2: Media MythologyBaseball and Supernatural Intervention: Cinematic Reflections on the Crisis of Confidence in Post–World War II America (Ron Briley)The Actor as Ballplayer, the Ballplayer as Actor (George Grella)“The Curious Case of Sidd Finch” and For Love of the Game: The Perfect Game as Mythical Literature (Craig This)The Symbiosis Between Baseball and Broadcasting (Paul D. Staudohar)The Pitch: Baseball and Advertising in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries (Roberta Newman)Baseball Fiction for Youth (Pamela Barron and Gail Dickinson)For the Record and Lives That Mattered: American Baseball Autobiographies (Thomas L. Altherr)Baseball Haiku: Basho, the Babe, and the Great Japanese-American Trade (Edward J. Rielly)Part 3: Myth and MysteryBaseball and Freemasonry in American Culture (Charles DeMotte)Claude Hendrix: Scapegoat or the Ninth Man Out? (George M. Platt)Baseball, Transcendence, and the Return to Life (Phil Oliver) Part 4: Myths in ProgressFrom Scientific Baseball to Sabermetrics: Professional Baseball as a Reflection of Engineering and Management in Society (Richard J. Puerzer)Youth Select Baseball in the Midwest (David C. Ogden)Labor Rights and the Restructuring of Major League Baseball, 1969–1992: A Case Study of Franchise Performance and the Myth of Baseball Management (Robert H. Jackson)Establishing Women’s Professional Baseball (Elizabeth Tempesta)Index