Before the World Series: Pride, Profits, and Baseball's First Championships - Hardcover

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In baseball history, no decade is more critical than the 1880s - a time of urban growth when sports stories filled the pages of newspapers and supporting the home team became a hallmark of civic duty. Larry Bowman narrates the ups and downs of baseball's early championships, illuminating the complex circumstances that led to baseball's meteoric rise in popularity.
The first World's Championship Series arose in an ad hoc manner when the Providence Grays faced the New York Metropolitans in 1884. Seeking to maximize profits, team owners promoted postseason baseball to ensure that one team could bill itself as the world's best. Bowman traces the history of seven championship series, recounting the frenzied negotiations and media hoopla that often preceded the games. He also analyzes the emergence of mascots, the evolution of the sport's rules, and the impact of America's explosive urban growth on baseball's popularity.
Before the World Series brings to life colorful sports figures - from baseball magnates Albert Spalding, Christian Von der Ahe, and Frederick Stearns to legendary Hall of Famers such as the fearsome Cap Anson, Charles Comiskey, and John Montgomery Ward, baseball's first union organizer. The story of Moses Walker, a black major leaguer 63 years before Jackie Robinson, sheds light on African American's early involvement in baseball.

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