One Nation Under Baseball: How the 1960s Collided with the National Pastime

by John Florio, Ouisie Shapiro, Bob Costas (Foreword by)

Overview

One Nation Under Baseball highlights the intersection between American society and America’s pastime during the 1960s, when the hallmarks of the sport—fairness, competition, and mythology—came under scrutiny. John Florio and Ouisie Shapiro examine the events of the era that reshaped the game: the Koufax and Drysdale million-dollar holdout, the encroachment of television on newspaper coverage, the changing perception of ballplayers from mythic figures to overgrown boys, the arrival of the everyman Mets and their free-spirited fans, and the lawsuit brought against team owners by Curt Flood. One Nation Under Baseball brings to life the seminal figures of the era—including Bob Gibson, Marvin Miller, Tom Seaver, and Dick Young—richly portraying their roles during a decade of flux and uncertainty.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496214065
Publisher:	Nebraska
Publication date:	04/01/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	270
Sales rank:	201,871
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

John Florio and Ouisie Shapiro are freelance writers based in Brooklyn, New York. Together they have written for the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Atlantic, VICE Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated. They are the authors of One Punch from the Promised Land: Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, and the Myth of the Heavyweight Title and the young adult book War in the Ring: Joe Louis, Max Schmeling, and the Fight between America and Hitler. Florio is also a novelist, and Shapiro is an Emmy-winning writer and producer of sports documentaries. Bob Costas has been broadcasting sports for four decades.

For more information about the authors visit florioshapiro.com.

Table of Contents

Foreword
A Note to the Reader
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

“An important inside historical account of baseball’s awakening amid the social change in America in the ’60s. Florio and Shapiro cover it all in riveting and incisive fashion, from the press box to the baseball boardrooms, the clubhouse, and the courthouse.”—Bill Madden, Hall of Fame baseball writer

Bill Madden

"A compelling account of how many of the major cultural challenges and social upheavals during the 1960s interacted with Major League Baseball."—Joseph L. Price, ARETE

ARETE - Joseph L. Price

"Florio and Shapiro have captured the essence of the decade offering some compelling stories of the events and people."—Richard Crepeau, New York Journal of Books

New York Journal of Books - Richard Crepeau

"This well-researched and -referenced book is a very enjoyable read. Everybody who is interested in knowing and understanding the history of baseball and race relations in America must read it."—Washington Book Review

Washington Book Review

"One Nation Under Baseball . . . looks at how the turmoil of the 1960s sowed the seeds for today's game. A recurrent theme is ballplayers' fight for higher wages, and when the labor lawyer Marvin Miller was hired in 1966 to lead the players' union, it was all over but the court filing: The Curt Flood case taking on baseball's reserve clause would eventually lead to free agency. This excellent read also covers race relations and other social issues, as well as the decade's most memorable teams, players and events."—Daniel M. Gold, New York Times

From the Publisher

"A brilliant history, both of baseball and our nation."—Bob Mayberry, Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine

Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine - Bob Mayberry

"One Nation Under Baseball . . . looks at how the turmoil of the 1960s sowed the seeds for today's game. A recurrent theme is ballplayers' fight for higher wages, and when the labor lawyer Marvin Miller was hired in 1966 to lead the players' union, it was all over but the court filing: The Curt Flood case taking on baseball's reserve clause would eventually lead to free agency. This excellent read also covers race relations and other social issues, as well as the decade's most memorable teams, players and events."—Daniel M. Gold, New York Times

New York Times - Daniel M. Gold

"A riveting account."—Allen Barra, Dallas News

Dallas News - Allen Barra

“One great story after another. Mickey Mantle. Muhammad Ali. Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. Martin Luther King. The moon landing. Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please!”—Jim Bouton, author of Ball Four
 

Jim Bouton

2017-01-24
As social change roiled through the 1960s, Major League Baseball was sometimes a mirror, sometimes a window.Freelance writer Florio (Blind Moon Alley, 2014, etc.) and documentary producer Shapiro focus on baseball throughout, but they don't neglect other sports or popular culture. The authors, who co-wrote One Punch from the Promised Land: Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, and the Myth of the Heavyweight Title (2013), deal with Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali—his rise, his anti-Vietnam War stance—and, briefly, with the 1968 Summer Olympics and the protests by sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos. The Beatles continually pop up, as well, but the authors' principal interest is in how professional baseball reacted to the social turmoil of the decade. Proceeding chronologically, they highlight certain athletes, using them to illustrate issues ranging from race (black players were growing increasingly unhappy—and vocal—about their status and treatment) to religion (Sandy Koufax would miss a World Series start because of Yom Kippur). We see players battling with management (men who do not come off at all well here), with the Jim Crow South, and with the rise of unionism in the sport. The authors spend some time with Curt Flood's struggle with baseball's reserve clause, and they continually remind us of the deep darkness of that decade: the political assassinations, the war, the clashes over civil rights. Sometimes, their focus drifts a bit when there are particularly engaging sports tales to tell—e.g., the amazing years for pitchers Bob Gibson and Denny McLain and the racial frustrations that often animated the performances of Ernie Banks and Dick Allen. The authors interviewed many of the principals and read numerous books written by them; they are especially strong on Jim Bouton's transformative sports memoir, Ball Four (1970). Careful, pointed writing shows us that professional sports should not be viewed in isolation from the society in which they function.

Kirkus Reviews