Breaking Babe Ruth: Baseball's Campaign against Its Biggest Star (Sports and American Culture Series) - Hardcover

Edmund F. Wehrle (author)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826221602 ISBN 13: 9780826221605

Publisher: University of Missouri Press, 2018

Synopsis

Rather than as a Falstaffian figure of limited intellect, Edmund Wehrle reveals Babe Ruth as an ambitious, independent operator, one not afraid to challenge baseball’s draconian labor system. To the baseball establishment, Ruth’s immense popularity represented opportunity, but his rebelliousness and potential to overturn the status quo presented a threat. After a decades-long campaign waged by baseball to contain and discredit him, the Babe, frustrated and struggling with injuries and illness, grew more acquiescent, but the image of Ruth that baseball perpetuated still informs how many people remember Babe Ruth to this day. This new perspective, approaching Ruth more seriously and placing his life in fuller context, is long overdue.

About this title

About the Author

Edmund F. Wehrle is Professor of History at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Missouri Press
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0826221602
• ISBN 13: 9780826221605
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288