Baseball's Radical for All Seasons: A Biography of John Montgomery Ward (American Sports History Series): 12 - Hardcover

Stevens, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810834545 ISBN 13: 9780810834545

Publisher: Scarecrow Press, 1998

Synopsis

This is the first biography of one of the most adventurous and influential figures in baseball history. John Montgomery Ward, an orphan, began his adult life with the inauspicious distinction of being expelled from Penn State University. However, he went on to refashion himself into a wealthy sports idol, feared radical, and businessman. Born in 1860, Ward pushed himself and the cutting edge of sports as hard as he could until his death in 1925. Despite his experience at Penn State, he earned two degrees from Columbia University. As a baseball player, Ward starred on four world champion teams. As a pitcher, Sandy Koufax is the closest match-up to his career statistics; as a shortstop, the nearest counterpart is Ozzie Smith. However, he was as famous for his stormy affairs with Broadway actresses as he was for his statistics. Outside of the stadium, Ward was an early players' rights attorney who, by age 25, founded the first union for athletes, and in 1886 attempted to bring black players into the major leagues Ward led a rebellion of players against the National League in 1890, only to see his union and the Players' League snuffed out. Ward finished his life as an early American golfing star and the happy husband of a women's suffragist. This important biography traces early American baseball and sports labor history, and includes photographs of Ward, his family, and his friends, including early baseball compatriots.

About this title

Review:

Ward made much more than baseball history. He made American history. Every baseball fan and historian should read this remarkable book.--Bill Gleason "The Sports Writers "

Ward was among the most fascinating figures of the 19th century.--Jerome Holtzman, official historian for Major League Baseball "Chicago Tribune "

If you are a baseball fan you will enjoy this book. If you like to read biographies of fascinating individuals from a much younger America, this book will most certainly hold your attention. You will find this book a most valuable read...Stevens has hit a home run with his first book.--James Dworkin, Associate Dean, Purdue University

In a year when all bios seem to feature McGwire or Sosa...Baseball's Radical for All Seasons fills a real void...well-researched profile of Ward.--Baseball Illustrated

...brings Ward to life in all his fiery glory. David Stevens follows his early travels thoroughly and in a chronological order that is easily traced...a fascinating glimpse into the life of an early baseball pioneer...excellent research and many stories of his exploits.--Journal of Sport History

Player, manager, labour leader, [Ward's] life offers a window on many of the conflicts of professional baseball in the late nineteenth century...Readers learn much concerning the game on the field at the end of the nineteenth century, how major leaguers understood themselves then, a considerable history of baseball in New York and its relation to New York fashion at the turn of the twentieth century and the history of the reserve clause and baseball's relation to the struggles of capital and labour.--International Journal of the History of Sport

From the Author:

Synopsis
Baseball's Radical for All Seasons is the first biography of one of the the most adventurous and influential figures in baseball history. John Montgomery Ward, an orphan, was expelled from school at 16, but refashioned himself into a wealthy sports idol, feared radical, and respected business man.

The handsome, debonaire Ward lived the American dream himself, but crusaded just as hard for the game he loved and for his fellow athletes. By age 25 he founded the first union for athletes, and fought to bring black players to the major leagues in 1886. In every pursuit Ward took up, he dove in with a vengeance. He earned 2 degrees from Columbia University, was an attorney, author, team owner, and pennant winning manager.

Only Babe Ruth set more baseball records than John Ward. The closest match-ups to Ward's career record are: as a pitcher, Sandy Koufax; as a shortstop, Ozzie Smith. Ward starred on 4 world champion teams, during the era when the World Series was named the Dauvray Cup, after his actress wife, one of the first women to produce Broadway plays. Ward finished his life as an early American golfing star and the happy husband of a women's suffragist.

Ward was a man of contrasts and mystery: clean-living/two-fisted, home-spun/sophisticated, philanderer/devoted husband, shrewd conspirator/practical joker. His rebellion kept him from baseball's Hall of Fame for 28 years. Now one of sports' biggest hearts, who still has crucial lessons for American sport, receives the credit he has long been due.

"It is a game of great dash and daring, and yet without sentiment it would be a very empty thing." - John Ward on "Our National Game", in his 1888 article

About this edition

• Publisher: Scarecrow Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0810834545
• ISBN 13: 9780810834545
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272