Play Ball! The Rise of Baseball as America’s Pastime

By: Bruce Markusen, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Bruce Markusen

Every time you watch baseball, you’re watching more than just a game - you’re participating in the latest chapter of a compelling story. What began as the earliest bat-and-ball games became the favorite American pastime of the first 19th-century baseball games. Knowing how baseball came to be what it is today will add levels of enjoyment, respect, and appreciation to any game you watch.

In collaboration with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, The Great Courses brings you 24 lectures that paint a portrait of baseball’s remarkable past. Taking you from the decades before the Civil War to the pivotal year of 1920, Play Ball! The Rise of Baseball as America’s Pastime offers a well-rounded, historically rich look at this most distinctive slice of Americana.

Written by noted baseball historian Peter Morris and presented by Bruce Markusen of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, these lectures guide you through decades of experimentation, change, controversy, and triumph. You’ll encounter early baseball giants, including Albert G. Spalding, Harry Wright, and Harry M. Stevens. You’ll learn the origins of everything from catcher’s masks to batting averages. You’ll consider the true stories of how women, African Americans, and others overcame adversity on and off the diamond. And all of this with the help of remarkable artifacts, images, and footage from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s vast holdings.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2019 The Great Courses

Absolutely Fantastic!!!! I really enjoyed it

This was an incredible experience. Every lecture was solid from it's performance, historical facts and length. I highly recommend enjoying this incredible package.

You really have to like baseball to enjoy these.

This was a very good and in depth analysis of the very early days of baseball. However, if you are just a casual fan looking for some fun old baseball stories this probably isn't the book for you. It is broken up in very manageable sections to listen to casually

Enjoyable history of Baseball

This is an enjoyable history of the game mostly focusing on the early history of Baseball up to the start of the Ruth era.

Baseball HIstory at its finest

Critically acclaimed baseball author Bruce Markusen, with his lecture series “Play Ball! The Rise of Baseball as America’s Pastime,” has woven the history of baseball into a very entertaining and informative story that the hardcore to casual baseball fan, to lover of history will thoroughly enjoy. Mr. Markusen blends historical fact with an occasional addition of humorous anecdotes to create a fast paced “don’t want to put it down,” listen. Full disclosure, I spent many hours sharing coffee and swapping baseball stories over the counter while working in Cooperstown several years ago with Bruce. You would have to search long and hard to find a more knowledgeable baseball enthusiast.

Great

This audiobook is more of a lecture. It was wonderful & informative, even for a baseball junkie like me.