OT: George Vecsey's Baseball: A History of America's Favorite Game

One of my New Year Resolutions was to read one book per week. This week, I read George Vecsey's Baseball: A History of America's Favorite Game. I would highly recommend this book to anybody who is a sports or baseball fan. While it's not an in depth historical account of baseball's history, it is a fun, breezy, passionate look at some key events that shaped the game. Highlights included the games historical lineage, going back to Europe and Asia, the development of the game in the 1800s, racism and Jackie Robinson, the Negro League greats, Babe Ruth, free agency and Curt Flood, Pete Rose and other big scandals, and the current state of the game.

I found the chapters on race and the game the most moving. Here is one of my favorite passages:

Some Americans began talking openly about the injustice that blacks were dying for their country in service but were still shut out from organized baseball. "I can play in Mexico." Negro League pitcher Nate Moreland had been quoted as saying, "but I have to fight for America where I can't play.