Spartan Seasons; How Baseball Survived the Second World War

New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc, 1980. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. xiv, 290 pages. Illustrations. Sources. Index. DJ has slight wear and soiling. Richard Goldstein (born October 25, 1942) is an American journalist and writer. Beginning in 1980, he wrote four baseball books. He has also written in several other fields. Goldstein worked as an editor at The New York Times from 1980 to 2007 and also wrote for the paper. Before joining The Times, he worked for the New York Daily News, Newsday and United Press International. Goldstein's five sports books include four on baseball. He wrote a pioneering study of baseball during World War II (Spartan Seasons), and a well-received history of Brooklyn baseball (Superstars and Screwballs). Goldstein collaborated with former New York Yankees infielder and broadcaster Jerry Coleman on Coleman's autobiography (An American Journey). Derived from a Kirkus review: Among the conspicuous casualties of World War II was the caliber of play in professional baseball. Goldstein, a member of the New York Times sports department, provides an account of just how the national pastime made do in the face of home-front hardships. Owners filled their rosters with youngsters like Joe Nuxhall, who pitched for the Cincinnati Reds before his sixteenth birthday; with over-the-hill veterans and draft rejects--including Pete Gray, a one-armed outfielder who batted .218 for the Browns in 1945. And, Goldstein notes, material shortages brought baseball the infamous ""balata"" ball, which proved 25 percent less resilient than its prewar predecessor--and vanished once Spalding secured an allocation of synthetic rubber. Baseball pitched in on the war effort, helping out on bond and scrap drives as well as donating gate receipts to servicemen's relief funds. A lavishly illustrated chronicle that does the national pastime proud.