For those who love baseball, the equipment used to play it holds a special place in the heart. That favorite glove . . . that special bat . . . the cap worn when your team won (or lost) the championship. No longer are these just objects or tools--they are now talismans that represent good times past and, more wistfully, lost youth. Whether for superstar players enshrined in the Hall of Fame or the millions of others who never got beyond the sandlots, the items used in America's grandest game hold almost mystical powers that belie the simplicity of the wood and leather from which they are crafted. The History of Baseball Equipment is, in a very special way, also a history of the sport itself. Springing from a simpler, more rural America, baseball and its equipment have evolved to a level of sophistication (and, perhaps, cynicism) its founders never dreamed of. Jack R. Nerad's loving look at how the accoutrements have changed through a century and a half also tells the story of baseball's key turning points since Alexander Cartwright first threw down bases in October 1846 on the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey--and many of the changes America has also undergone. In addition to its words and pictures, The History of Baseball Equipment literally weaves bits of baseball equipment right into its pages, from a slice of a major league baseball embedded in the front cover to touch-and-feel elements throughout the pages. From the glove and uniform to the hot dogs and peanuts hawked in the stands, the items associated with America's favorite pastime will bring home that incomparable feeling of a day at the ballpark for fans of all ages. They define a vital aspect of our lives that isever-changing and yet always the same--and therein may lie their greatest appeal.
- ISBN10 1599213923
- ISBN13 9781599213927
- Publish Date 1 January 2001
- Publish Status Cancelled
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
- Imprint The Lyons Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 144
- Language English