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Loading... Where They Ain't: The Fabled Life and Untimely Death of the Original Baltimore Orioles, the Team That Gave Birth to Modern Baseballby Burt Solomon
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This follows the career of Willie Keeler, but more importantly it tracks his team, the legendary Baltimore Orioles of the National League in the 1890's. It is a story of great baseball, torn apart by a league that was run by the owners for the owners. If you think baseball is screwed up now--you're right--but it could be much worse, and once upon it time it was. ( ) no reviews | add a review
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A colorful portrait of old-time baseball - an enthralling story of how the legendary Baltimore Orioles & their fans were sacrificed on the altar of greed - events eerily echoing the state of the game today. Greedy owners, spoiled players, disillusioned fans - all hallmarks of baseball in the nineties. Only in this case, it's the eighteen-nineties. We may think that business interests dominate the sport today, but baseball's early years were an even harsher & less sentimental age - when the National League nearly turned itself into an out-and-out cartel. Where They Ain't tells the story of that tumultuous age, through the prism of the era's best team, the Baltimore Orioles, & its best hitter, Wee Willie Keeler, whose famous motto - "Keep your eye clear, & hit 'em where they ain't" - was wise counsel for an underdog in a big man's world. Just as John D. Rockefeller did with oil & Andrew Carnegie did with steel, the baseball owners in this era began to consolidate for the sake of monopoly profits. Burt Solomon's fascinating account of the 'syndicate" agreement in 1899 between the greedy owners of the Orioles & the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers shows how the Orioles were soon destroyed, how the city of Baltimore lost control of its economic destiny, & how even Willie Keeler, a joyful innocent, ultimately sold out as well. Where They Ain't lays bare the all-too-human origins of our national game & offers a cautionary tale of the pastime at a century's end. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)796.357The arts Recreational and performing arts Athletic and outdoor sports and games Ball sports Ball and stick sports BaseballLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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