Let There Be Baseball
The 60-Year Battle to Legitimize Sunday Play
Will be published approx. on 8. November 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
292 pages
978-1-4766-9274-6 (ISBN)
Description
Taken for granted by fans today, Sunday baseball was made possible only after decades of contention between evangelical Sabbatarians seeking enforcement of antiquated "blue laws," and an alliance of "Pro-Sabs" who prevailed against them with strategy and tenacity. At the heart of the struggle was a debate over the First Amendment and the place of religion in public life.
Drawing on case records, this book details the legal and political battles and describes the roles of the judges, law enforcement officers and politicians, and the ordinary citizens who wanted to enjoy baseball on Sunday. The contributions of unheralded civil rights pioneers--such as Joe Neet, John Powell and Lewis Perrine--are documented.
Drawing on case records, this book details the legal and political battles and describes the roles of the judges, law enforcement officers and politicians, and the ordinary citizens who wanted to enjoy baseball on Sunday. The contributions of unheralded civil rights pioneers--such as Joe Neet, John Powell and Lewis Perrine--are documented.
Reviews / Votes
"Sharp vividly depicts the profound struggle between ordinary citizens desiring to watch or play a Sunday ball game on their only day off in the once-standard six-day workweek and religious dogmatists seeking to control people's lives under the fig leaf of a state-mandated compulsory day of rest. Through extensive use of contemporaneous newspaper accounts, Sharp richly details the tensions of a civil-rights quarrel for individual choice to pursue secular activities on Sunday without governmental interference in numerous small cities with baseball teams at the amateur, semi-pro, and minor-league levels. This book is a fascinating exploration of the on-the-ground activities conducted over several decades with regard to restrictive laws prohibiting Sunday baseball, which adds significant color to the existing legislative and judicial accounts by historians that have focused largely on cities with major-league teams."-Charlie Bevis, author of Sunday Baseball: The Major Leagues' Struggle to Play Baseball on the Lord's Day, 1876-1934More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Jefferson, NC
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
56 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 178 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
517 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4766-9274-6 (9781476692746)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Arthur G. Sharp is a Sun City Center, Florida, based writer/editor whose publications include 21 books and more than 2,500 articles on a variety of topics.
Content
Table of Contents
Preface
?1.?William Drennan: The Sabbatarians' Poster Boy
?2.?Once Upon a Time...
?3.?Did Mighty Casey Strike Out on a Sunday?
?4.?Baseball and Blue Laws
?5.?Billy Sunday Turns Against Sunday
?6.?No Need to Feel Blue
?7.?Cheers for the Fans
?8.?Relax, You're with Friends-Sort Of
?9.?Play Ball-Or Not
10.?Religion and Sunday Baseball
11.?Secular vs. Religious
12.?Courts in Conflict
13.?"The law is a ass..."
14.?Sunday and the Law of Intended Consequences
15.?A Question of Geography
16.?Bad Attitude, Bad Outcome
17.?The Ministers vs. the Newspapers
18.?You Can Lead a Horse to Water, But You Can't Make It Go to Church
19.?Civil Disobedience Is Not Always a Bad Thing
20.?Clever Ruses
21.?Martyrs for the Cause
22.?The Murky "Cardinal" Rules of Baseball
23.?Buddy, Can You Spare Some Change?
24.?The State of Sunday Baseball
25.?Follow the Money
26.?Sunday Baseball and World War I
27.?Finally, a Breakthrough
28.?Starting Down a Slippery Slope
29.?The Volatile '30s
30.?There Was No Curfew to End World War II Early
31.?Between Wars-Again
32.?The 1950s
33.?The Last Great Sunday Battle
34.?Who Ultimately Decided the Sunday Laws Were Outdated?
Epilogue
Appendix
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
Preface
?1.?William Drennan: The Sabbatarians' Poster Boy
?2.?Once Upon a Time...
?3.?Did Mighty Casey Strike Out on a Sunday?
?4.?Baseball and Blue Laws
?5.?Billy Sunday Turns Against Sunday
?6.?No Need to Feel Blue
?7.?Cheers for the Fans
?8.?Relax, You're with Friends-Sort Of
?9.?Play Ball-Or Not
10.?Religion and Sunday Baseball
11.?Secular vs. Religious
12.?Courts in Conflict
13.?"The law is a ass..."
14.?Sunday and the Law of Intended Consequences
15.?A Question of Geography
16.?Bad Attitude, Bad Outcome
17.?The Ministers vs. the Newspapers
18.?You Can Lead a Horse to Water, But You Can't Make It Go to Church
19.?Civil Disobedience Is Not Always a Bad Thing
20.?Clever Ruses
21.?Martyrs for the Cause
22.?The Murky "Cardinal" Rules of Baseball
23.?Buddy, Can You Spare Some Change?
24.?The State of Sunday Baseball
25.?Follow the Money
26.?Sunday Baseball and World War I
27.?Finally, a Breakthrough
28.?Starting Down a Slippery Slope
29.?The Volatile '30s
30.?There Was No Curfew to End World War II Early
31.?Between Wars-Again
32.?The 1950s
33.?The Last Great Sunday Battle
34.?Who Ultimately Decided the Sunday Laws Were Outdated?
Epilogue
Appendix
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index