The Farmers' Game: Baseball in Rural America

How rural America shapes America’s favorite pastime. Winner of the SABR Baseball Research Award of the Society for American Baseball Research Anyone who has watched the film Field of Dreams can’t help but be captivated by the lead character’s vision. He gives his struggling farming community a magical place where the smell of roasted peanuts gently wafts over the crowded grandstand on a warm summer evening just as the star pitcher takes the mound. Baseball, America’s game, has a dedicated following and a rich history. Fans obsess over comparative statistics and celebrate men who played for legendary teams during the "golden age" of the game. In The Farmers' Game, David Vaught examines the history and character of baseball through a series of essay-vignettes. He presents the sport as essentially rural, reflecting the nature of farm and small-town life. Vaught does not deny or devalue the lively stickball games played in the streets of Brooklyn, but he sees the history of the game and the rural United States as related and mutually revealing. His subjects include nineteenth-century Cooperstown, the playing fields of Texas and Minnesota, the rural communities of California, the great farmer-pitcher Bob Feller, and the notorious Gaylord Perry. Although—contrary to legend—Abner Doubleday did not invent baseball in a cow pasture in upstate New York, many fans enjoy the game for its nostalgic qualities. Vaught's deeply researched exploration of baseball's rural roots helps explain its enduring popularity.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction: Abner Doubleday and Baseball's Idol of Origins 1. Playing Ball in Cooperstown in the Formative Years of the American Republic 2. Baseball and the Transformation of Rural California 3. Multicultural Ball in the Heyday of Texas Cotton Agriculture 4. The Making of Bob Feller and the Modern American Farmer 5. The Milroy Yankees and the Decline of Southwest Minnesota 6. Gaylord Perry, the Spitter, and Farm Life in Eastern North Carolina Epilogue: Vintage Ball Notes Essay on Sources Index

About the Author :
David Vaught is department head and professor of history at Texas A&M University. His four books include After the Gold Rush: Tarnished Dreams in the Sacramento Valley and Cultivating California: Growers, Specialty Crops, and Labor, 1875–1920, both published by Johns Hopkins.

Review :
This highly readable book makes clear that rural baseball has always been every bit as central to the American experience as has its metropolitan counterpart. —Choice The author has opened a window onto a rich area of exploration and understanding in rural history and into the complex relationships between Americans and baseball. —Jim McCabe, Association for Living History, Farm, and Agricultural Museums A refreshing and thoughtful addition to the history of baseball. —September 2013, George Kirsch, Journal of American History While baseball thrives on statistics, this book is an absorbing read not for the numbers . . . but for the social and historical issues it brings to the forefront. —Bob D'Angelo, The Tampa Tribune Vaught's book is a masterwork . . . What makes this book particularly noteworthy is the author's rich knowledge of America's agricultural past. That alone is worth the price of admission. —Roger I. Abrams, American Historical Review For those interested in baseball's place in local history, whether in rural or regional terms, this is an extraordinarily good book. —Benjamin G. Rader, Annals of Iowa A solidly researched and well-written piece of history, one that fills a large void in our understanding of baseball's significant role in American life, particularly away from the big city lights . . . Baseball enthusiasts should find this book of interest, and university instructors of U.S. cultural history courses could use chapters as supplementary reading. —Thomas Saylor, Minnesota History The Farmers' Game would enhance any academic library's sports history collection. . . The Farmers' Game can be group with the works of Jules Tygiel as clear-eyed analyses of how the sport and its historical context illuminate each other. —Chistopher DeRosa, New York History The Farmers' Game is a sympathetic yet straightforward account of a pastoral game. Periods of prosperity and famine have always come to farmers as regularly and unexpectedly as streaks have to batters, though the stakes are almost never as high for the player. For its pointing out the symmetry in those alternately joyful and grievous experiences, and for much else, we are indebted to David Vaught's excellent book. —Chris Beneke, Journal of Southern History A critical, well-researched, and well-written analysis of the relationship between agrarian American and baseball. —Joel S. Franks, NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture Provocative. —Daniel Borus, Reviews in American History