The End of Baseball As We Knew It: The Players Union, 1960-81

by Charles Korr

Overview

The first book to utilize the files, letters, and correspondence of the Major League Baseball Player's Association, The End of Baseball As We Knew It replays the much-storied transformation of power from management to players that set the standard for labor relations not just in baseball but in all professional sports. Charles P. Korr also draws on interviews with ballplayers, journalists, and labor executives to construct an insider's view of the successful sports union's formative years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780252072741
Publisher:	University of Illinois Press
Publication date:	02/15/2005
Series:	Sport and Society
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Charles P. Korr is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Missouri at St. Louis and the author of West Ham United: The Making of a Football Club. Bob Costas is an award-winning sports broadcaster and the author of Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	ix
	Acknowledgments	xv
	Introduction	1
1	A "House Union"	15
2	The Association Chooses Change	35
3	A New Focus for the Association	54
4	The Union Asserts Itself	68
5	Curt Flood and the American Dream	84
6	Only One Chance at a First Strike	102
7	A Loss in Court and a Gain at the Bargaining Table	121
8	Different Roads to Free Agency	130
9	Messersmith and McNally: Two Pitchers and One Big Win	147
10	Protecting Free Agency	168
11	1980-The Strike That Didn't Happen	186
12	The Union's Sternest Test	210
	Conclusion	231
	Epilogue: 1990s-Parallels Abroad and Problems at Home	249
	Notes	267
	Sources and Further Reading	309
	Index	317

Editorial Reviews

Winner of the Dave Moore Award given by Elysian FIelds Quarterly Review, 2003.

"A sympathetic profile of the Major League Baseball Players Association. This academic book chronicles the organization as it rose from house union in the 1960s to the powerhouse that won free agency through the Andy Messersmith-Dave McNally case in 1975."—Washington Post Book World

"Examines the rise of the players association. Korr is able to tell the story more completely than others who've tried before because the players association gave him access to archives previously unavailable to the public. From these seemingly dry documents springs up a conflict passionately waged by athletes and owners."—USA Today Sports Weekly

"A fascinating, accurate account of the history of this powerful union."—Tim McCarver

"This illuminating account of how the Major League Baseball Players Association changed the face of the American sports scene should be read by anyone interested in baseball but especially by thirty particular individuals—the ones who run major league clubs. No detail of this fifteen-year drama has been omitted, with all its alternatives fully explored and explained. As one who had to cover these events in real time, I'm delighted to learn from both sides—at last—what really went on."—Leonard Koppett, author of Koppett's Concise History of Baseball

"A near perfect historical account: a fascinating subject that has been thoroughly researched, a rich story told with precision and passion. Korr reminds us that the formation of the baseball players union not only changed baseball but all of American sports and in profound ways affected American society as a whole. More than a sports book (clearly a must-read for all baseball fans and scholars), The End of Baseball As We Knew It is important American social and labor history."—Gerald Early, professor of English and African-American Studies at Washington University and consultant on Ken Burns's television documentary Baseball

From the Publisher