Turbulent Seasons

This history recaptures a colorful era in early baseball when club owners quarreled, players berated umpires, sportswriters criticized and ridiculed both owners and players, and the game made halting progress toward the sport and business it became. The two seasons saw the formation in 1890 of the Players League by the Brotherhood of Professional Ball Players, America's first sports union; the failure of the players' efforts to stand up to the owners; the collapse of a new National Agreement between the National League and the American Association; and the eventual amalgamation of four Association franchises into the National League, creating a decade of relative peace. This title is now available as a paperback and ebook exclusively from McFarland.