Base-Ball: How to Become a Player, With the Origin, History, and Expansion of the Game
Price: $8,000.00
Original Wraps. Philadelphia: The Athletic Publishing Company, 1888. First Edition. Near Fine.
First edition. Publisher's yellow wrappers, printed in black. Very good or better, with light toning to spine, light soiling to wrappers, and light toning to page margins. Overall, a great example of a very desirable 19th century baseball guide. In Base-Ball: How to Become a Player, baseball Hall of Famer John Montgomery Ward (1860 - 1925) explains the history, theory, and positions of the game. The book is notable for being one of the first instructional baseball books. As a player, Ward's most notable achievement was pitching the second perfect game in major league history in 1880. Yet his playing career was just a one part of his illustrious baseball career - he was also a manager, executive, author, and union organizer. A passionate supporter of player rights, Ward spearheaded the creation of the first sports labor union, the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players (1885), primarily as a reaction to the NL and AA's restrictive reserve clause. Ward also founded the Players' League in 1890 as a way of combating the reserve clause, but the league only lasted a year. Item #JMW005
