Overview

As a player, manager, team captain, umpire, owner and league president, Hall of Famer Jim O'Rourke (1851-1918) spoke for the players in the emerging game of baseball. O'Rourke's career paralleled the rise of the game from a regional sport with few strategies to the national pastime. Nicknamed ""Orator"" for his booming voice and his championing of the rights of professional athletes, he was a driving force in making the sport a profession, bringing respectability to the role of professional baseball player. From contemporary sources, O'Rourke's own correspondence, and player files available through the National Baseball Library, a rounded portrait of Jim O'Rourke emerges. Quick to speak his mind, the outfielder played on nine pennant-winning teams, but his playing career was overshadowed by his work in organizing baseball's first union. After his playing days ended, O'Rourke attempted to establish the Connecticut League, becoming the circuit's president, secretary, and treasury. Though the league failed to fully materialize, his Bridgeport Victors did play several games and were one of the few racially integrated teams--a fact emblematic of O'Rourke's efforts to change the national pastime. In those efforts, he attempted to wrest control of the game from the owners and empower the players. A carefully researched account of O'Rourke's life and career, this biography also provides a behind-the-scenes look at the growth of the national pastime from the Civil War through the deadball era.

Full Product Details

Author:   Mike Roer
Publisher:   McFarland & Co Inc
Imprint:   McFarland & Co Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780786423552

ISBN 10:   0786423552
Pages:   342
Publication Date:   27 January 2006
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   General/trade ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Table of Contents Preface      Prologue      1. Beginnings      2. Jim Joins the Club (1866–1871)      3. Middletown Mansfields (1872)      4. Boston Red Stockings (1873)      5. The Red Stockings in Great Britain (1874)      6. The Tools of Ignorance (1875)      7. Boston Red Caps (1876–1878)      8. Providence Grays (1879)      9. Return to the Boston Red Caps (1880)      10. Buffalo Bisons (1881–1883)      11. John O'Rourke Joins the Mets (1883)      12. National League Batting Champion (1884)      13. New York Giants (1885–1887)      14. O'Rourke at Yale Law School (1885–1887)      15. The Brotherhood (1886–1887)      16. The Color Line (1887)      17. Orations (1888)      18. The Giants Win the Pennant (1888)      19. The Baseball War (1889)      20. The World’s Series (1889)      21. Players’ League Giants (1890)      22. Return to National League Giants (1891–1892)      23. Washington Senators (1893)      24. National League Umpire (1894)      25. Bridgeport Victors (1895–1897)      26. New Home for the Bridgeports (1898–1900)      27. Defending the Minor Leagues (1900–1903)      28. The Bridgeport Orators (1903–1907)      29. The NAPBL (1907)      30. Hanging Up the Glove (1908–1910)      31. Baseball's Elder Statesman (1911–1913)      32. The New England Baseball War (1913–1919)      33. The Baseball Wars: A Look Back      34. Epilogue      Appendix A: Jim O’Rourke’s Professional Statistics      Appendix B: Evolution of the Rules of Baseball      Appendix C: The Bat      Appendix D: The Ball      Notes      Bibliography      Index     

Reviews

thoroughly researched...superb --Sports Collectors Digest; those of us who know nineteenth-century baseball history well can still learn a lot from Orator O'Rourke. ...[A] life worth knowing about and a book worth reading --Nine; of great interest...prodigiously researched --Edward Achorn, Providence Journal; marvelously researched and well written. The reader sees clearly that baseball, as always, reflects the spirit of its time. --Larry Levine, Quinnipiac University.

Author Information

SABR member Mike Roer is the president of a software company in Fairfield, Connecticut. He lives in Fairfield.

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