Elysian Fields: The Birth of Baseball

From the opening pages, even the casual fan or sports enthusiast is drawn into the early days of baseball as a game played for fun and exercise by clerks, lawyers, bank clerks, and merchants. They would find an open area, or common field which to play this new game with crude balls, sticks and no gloves. Elysian Fields shares the truth of the men who are credited with the development of amateur and later professional baseball clubs in the 1800's. There are ample pictures, and lithographs from the earliest players, ball clubs, and managers. Only nine chapters in length, this book is informative, entertaining, and captures the true essence of the infancy of a truly American sport. Elysian Fields is a must read for the baseball fan and the historian.