Never Just a Game: Players, Owners, and American Baseball to 1920 - Paperback

Never Just a Game: Players, Owners, and American Baseball to 1920 - Paperback

$86.18
Sale price  $86.18 Regular price 
Skip to product information
Never Just a Game: Players, Owners, and American Baseball to 1920 - Paperback

Never Just a Game: Players, Owners, and American Baseball to 1920 - Paperback

$86.18
Sale price  $86.18 Regular price 

by Robert F. Burk (Author)

America's national pastime has been marked from its inception by bitter struggles between owners and players over profit, power, and prestige. In this book, the first installment of a highly readable, comprehensive labor history of baseball, Robert Burk describes the evolution of the ballplaying work force: its ethnocultural makeup, its economic position, and its battles for a place at the table in baseball's decision-making structure.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the growing popularity of baseball as a spectator sport and the dramatic upsurge of America's urban population created conditions that led to franchise competition, the development of rival leagues, and trade wars, in turn triggering boom-and-bust cycles, franchise bankruptcies, and league mergers. According to Burk, players repeatedly tried to use these circumstances to better their economic positions by playing one team off against another. Their successes proved short-lived, however, because their own internal divisions, exploited by management, undercut attempts to create collective-bargaining institutions. By 1920, owners still held the upper hand in the labor-management battle, but as today's sports pages show, owners did not secure a long-term solution to their labor problems.

Author Biography

Robert F. Burk, author of "Much More Than a Game: Players, Owners, and American Baseball since 1921," is professor and chair of the history department at Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio.

Number of Pages: 302
Dimensions: 0.68 x 9.21 x 6.14 IN
Publication Date: March 05, 2001

Intentional design

We make things that work better and last longer. Our products solve real problems with clean design.

Quality first

We obsess over the details and strive to deliver the best products at the best prices, every time.

Customer care

We're always on your side: keeping our loyal customers happy is our top priority and number one goal.

Feature 1

Made with care and unconditionally loved by our customers, this signature bestseller exceeds all expectations.

Feature 2

Made with care and unconditionally loved by our customers, this signature bestseller exceeds all expectations.

At the heart of every product lies a unique story, driven by our passion for quality and innovation. Each item enhances your everyday life and sparks joy.