Selling Baseball: How Superstars George Wright and Albert Spalding Impacted Sports in America

(Hardback)

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**Booklist Starred Review**
A fascinating look back on baseballs humble beginnings and its transformation into the national pastime, told through the lives of two men who dominated the game.

The nineteenth century was a time of rapid growth and development for the game of base ball, and players George Wright and Albert Spalding were right in the thick of it. These two young men, the first superstars of the professional game, won the hearts of a country in search of a unifying spirit after a devastating civil war.

Selling Baseball: How Superstars George Wright and Albert Spalding Impacted Sports in America breathes fresh energy into baseballs beginnings with this captivating tale of two vibrant personalities whose friendly rivalry was integral to the rise of the professional game. While they came from starkly different backgroundsAlbert was a young, gangly pitcher from the countrys rural heartland and George the consummate athlete from the New York City areatheir captivating performances on the field, along with their promotion of the game and of sports equipment, fed the publics insatiable appetite for leisure-time pursuits and helped grow professional baseball to unprecedented heights.

George Wright and Albert Spaldings stories are masterfully woven together to paint a sweeping picture of the early days of professional baseball, the evolution of sports as a business, and the advancement of sports equipment and the sporting goods industry. Their rise as players and businessmen mirrored the rise of a nation that would lead the world in the coming century.

Reviews

In his fine book, Selling Baseball, Jeffrey Orens offers a uniquely sliced view: how Al Spalding and George Wright, superstars on the ball field, came to dominate its merchandising, building empires that extended to tennis, golf, and, yes, roller polo. Highly recommended, even to those who may know a thing or two about sports. -- John Thorn, official historian of Major League Baseball and author of critically acclaimed Baseball in the Garden of Eden
In Selling Baseball, Jeffrey Orens makes a compelling case that two early superstars went far beyond the ballfield to change the face of sports in America. All fans of early baseball and American cultural history owe Orens a debt for his entertaining and deeply sourced account of the remarkable rise of George Wright and Albert Goodwill Spalding. -- Edward Achorn, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Fifty-nine in 84 and The Summer of Beer and Whiskey
In Selling Baseball, Jeffrey Orens provides his readers with a new perspective of the sport and the sports equipment industry through the long-overlooked relationship between Albert Goodwill Spalding and George Wright. The more than fifty-year friendship of these two on-the-field stars, Baseball Hall of Fame inductees, and sports equipment pioneers, transcended competition and launched baseball and other athletics to the status that we take for granted today. Thought provoking, instructive, and enjoyablea must read. -- Peter Mancuso, co-chair, Nineteenth Century Research Committee, Society for American Baseball Research
Selling Baseball tells how the then-new game of baseball grew into the National Pastimea big business complete with fanatic fans and professional teamsvia the joint stories of two of baseballs most impactful pioneers, Hall of Famers George Wright and Albert Spalding. Whether on the ball field or in management, the duo helped shape the game as we know it today. Jeffrey Orens Selling Baseball gives readers a grand tour of 19th century baseball, as well as of 19th century America. -- Bruce Allardice, baseball historian and author
Orens brings a fresh perspective and lively writing to the early years of professional baseball. -- Richard Hershberger, baseball historian and author of Strike Four: The Evolution of Baseball
Orens' book invites us on a journey through American and baseball history from the 19th into the early 20th centuries. Through the eyes of two early baseball icons, Al Spalding and George Wright, we witness the evolution of the game, from the fun of underhanded pitching to its formation as a national economic enterprise. Along the way, we crisscross America with the famous Cincinnati Red Stockings; follow the game overseas; watch the rules, equipment, and economics of the game transform; and appreciate how American sports became big business. A must read for anyone fascinated by the interplay of sports and American society. -- Bob LeMoine, author of When the Babe Went Back to Boston: Babe Ruth, Judge Fuchs and the Hapless Braves of 1935
This book is a good primer on the early development of the business of professional baseball in the last one-third of the 19th century. * Bevis Baseball Research *

Author Bio

Jeffrey Orens is the author of The Soul of Genius: Marie Curie, Albert Einstein and the Meeting that Changed the Course of Science which was favorably reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Science, and other outlets, including a starred Booklist review. He is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and his work has appeared in History Magazine, True West Magazine, and other historical publications. Orens resides in New Jersey.