As Kevin Baker abundantly and entertainingly makes clear, America’s pastime is “The New York Game.” Baker’s book with that title examines the development of baseball from its organizational stirrings in the mid-19th century to the cusp of racial integration at the end of World War II. The setting? New York City.
My friend Jerry and I have been swapping baseball books of late. In exchange for my paperback copy of “Bottom of the 33rd,” he handed me his hardcover copy of “The New York Game.” Both books are excellent.
“Bottom of the 33rd” is an account of the longest professional baseball game ever played, a marathon minor-league contest at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, between the host Red Sox farm team and the Orioles’ Rochester Red Wings. That game in 1981, which played into the wee hours on Easter morning, featured future Hall of Famers Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken Jr. and much, much more. I highly recommend the book to all baseball fans.
Same goes for “The New York Game,” which delves into baseball’s early history and its relentless growth that carried it through the Civil War, recessions, the Black Sox scandal and two world wars.
Baseball as we know it diverged from multiple variations of bat-and-ball games like town ball. The early New York clubs established the rules that became standard as the former “base ball” became “baseball” and swept the nation.
The book notes how the game was destined to take hold in the Big Apple. Baker takes the reader along for a thrilling ride as the game and the city grow and flourish as the nation’s sports and cultural focal points, respectively.
The book charts the fortunes of the New York Giants, the Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers, who followed an assortment of club teams that played among themselves and then against each other. Those early decades would lead to the formation of the National and American leagues at the turn of the 20th century.
Baker skillfully weaves the development of baseball in parallel with the development of New York City. Early teams had a devil of a time finding spaces to play, and there’s a thorough recounting of how the Giants eventually kicked the Yankees out of the Polo Grounds in Manhattan to move to the Bronx and the House That Ruth Built.
The book spends a good deal of time honoring the black players whom the majors cruelly excluded for many decades. The book also gives the back story on the nefarious dealings of team owners and the players who fell prey to gamblers and, ultimately, scandal. But Baker also notes that gambling on the game helped broaden the sport’s appeal and popularity.
I’d forgotten that blue laws prohibited the playing of games on Sundays, and the book shows how those attitudes shifted over time for the benefit of the teams and their fans. A similar tale unfolds about how radio broadcasting changed the way the game was played and boosted its popularity.
I thoroughly enjoyed “The New York Game.” The history Baker relates is terrific, and the book gave me a new appreciation for how much New York means to baseball and vice versa. 🧢
The Ball Caps Blog 
Adding to my TBR list!
It’s a good one!
Great review Dan. Always fascinating to think about a city with not two, but three teams! That other book sounds interesting too, about the longest game. I hope someone does the same (writes a book) about the White Sox/Brewers 25 inning marathon in 1984. Speaking of which, as you probably know, the American League was founded in Milwaukee.
There’s a plaque marking the spot of the hotel where the league was formed. I’ll seek out on my next trip back. I don’t recall seeing it before. And that 25-inning game would make a great book.