In Selling Baseball, Jeffrey Orens provides his readers with a new perspective of the sport and the sports equipment industry through the long-overlooked relationship between Albert Goodwill Spalding and George Wright. The more than fifty-year friendship of these two on-the-field stars, Baseball Hall of Fame inductees, and sports equipment pioneers, transcended competition and launched baseball and other athletics to the status that we take for granted today. Thought provoking, instructive, and enjoyablemdash;a must read.--Peter Mancuso, co-chair, Nineteenth Century Research Committee, Society for American Baseball Research

Selling Baseball tells how the then-new game of baseball grew into the ldquo;National Pastimerdquo;mdash;a big business complete with fanatic fans and professional teamsmdash;via the joint stories of two of baseballrsquo;s most impactful pioneers, Hall of Famers George Wright and Albert Spalding. Whether on the ball field or in management, the duo helped shape the game as we know it today. Jeffrey Orensrsquo; Selling Baseball gives readers a grand tour of 19th century baseball, as well as of 19th century America.--Bruce Allardice, baseball historian and author

Orens brings a fresh perspective and lively writing to the early years of professional baseball.--Richard Hershberger, baseball historian and author of Strike Four: The Evolution of Baseball

Orens#39; book invites us on a journey through American and baseball history from the 19th into the early 20th centuries. Through the eyes of two early baseball icons, Al Spalding and George Wright, we witness the evolution of the game, from the fun of underhanded pitching to its formation as a national economic enterprise. Along the way, we crisscross America with the famous Cincinnati Red Stockings; follow the game overseas; watch the rules, equipment, and economics of the game transform; and appreciate how American sports became big business. A must read for anyone fascinated by the interplay of sports and American society.--Bob LeMoine, author of When the Babe Went Back to Boston: Babe Ruth, Judge Fuchs and the Hapless Braves of 1935