Much More Than a Game

Players, Owners, and American Baseball since 1921

By Robert F. Burk

384 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 12 photographs, 4 charts, appends., notes, bibl., index

  • Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-4908-8
    Published: March 2001
  • E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-0-8078-7537-7
    Published: January 2003
  • E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-7223-4
    Published: January 2003

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To most Americans, baseball is just a sport; but to those who own baseball teams--and those who play on them--our national pastime is much more than a game. In this book, Robert Burk traces the turbulent labor history of American baseball since 1921. His comprehensive, readable account details the many battles between owners and players that irrevocably altered the business of baseball.

During what Burk calls baseball's "paternalistic era," from 1921 to the early 1960s, the sport's management rigidly maintained a system of racial segregation, established a network of southern-based farm teams that served as a captive source of cheap replacement labor, and crushed any attempts by players to create collective bargaining institutions. In the 1960s, however, the paternal order crumbled, eroded in part by the civil rights movement and the competition of television. As a consequence, in the "inflationary era" that followed, both players and umpires established effective unions that successfully pressed for higher pay, pensions, and greater occupational mobility--and then fought increasingly bitter struggles to hold on to these hard-won gains.

About the Author

Robert F. Burk, whose previous books include the award-winning Never Just a Game: Players, Owners, and American Baseball to 1920, is professor and chair of the history department at Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio.
For more information about Robert F. Burk, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"Burk's study of the struggles between players and management over access to job opportunities, rights of workers, and the administration of the industry has resulted in an excellent, detailed historical analysis."--Business History Review

"Burk's Much More Than a Game, read in conjunction with his earlier volume, Never Just a Game: Players, Owners, & American Baseball to 1920, offers the most complete and accessible history of the business side of baseball currently available. . . . A valuable, up-to-date synthesis of labor relations in baseball, a history that people will want to revisit."--Journal of American History

"The second and concluding volume in Burk's business history of baseball covers the seismic changes that have affected the game, from the tenure of judge Landis through modern issues that continue to cause confrontation between ownership and the players."--USA Today Baseball Weekly

"Comprehensive, well-written, and with valuable notes and a bibliographic essay, this book is a rich addition to the literature on the social and economic history of our national pastime for scholar and fan alike."--Choice

"As he chronicles the history of baseball's labor movement . . . Burk focuses on the major people . . . a focus that significantly animates his heavily detailed narrative."--Publishers Weekly

"In these days of escalating salaries and costs and the friction that exists between players and management, this book provides scholarly background. Libraries featuring comprehensive sports and/or labor relations collections should consider."--Library Journal