Peter Morris - A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball: The Game on the Field

Peter Morris has established himself as one of the foremost historians of early baseball in America. His A Game of Inches, first published in 2006, was the first book ever to win both the coveted Seymour Medal of the Society for American Baseball Research and the Casey Award from Spitball magazine as the best baseball book of the year. Mr. Morris has also written Catcher, a study of how the man behind the plate became an American folk hero; But Didnt We Have Fun?, an informal history of baseballs pioneer era; Level Playing Fields, about the early days of groundskeeping; and Baseball Fever (also a Seymour Medal winner), the story of early baseball in Michigan. A former national and international Scrabble champion, he lives in Haslett, Michigan. For more information, see his website, www.petermorrisbooks.com .

A WORK as ambitious as this one relies on the diligent work of many earlier researchers, and the bibliography reflects many of those debts. In addition I am deeply grateful to the many researchers, almost all of them members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), who have graciously permitted me to cite their unpublished research and/or have read preliminary entries and offered perceptive critiques. These include Bruce Allardice, Bill Anderson, David Anderson, David Arcidiacono, Jean Hastings Ardell, Mark Armour, Priscilla As-tifan, Bob Bailey, David Ball, Evelyn Begley, Charlie Bevis, Cliff Blau, David Block, Darryl Brock, Bill Carle, Frank Ceresi, Dick Clark, the late Jack Daugherty, Harry Davis, Bill Deane, Paul Dickson, Jane Finnan Dorward, Stefan Fatsis, Jan Finkel, Scott Flatow, John Freyer, Cappy Gagnon, Glenn Guzzo, Ron Haas, Richard Hershberger, Reed Howard, Paul Hunkele, John Husman, the late Fred Ivor-Campbell, the late Bill Kirwin, Jeff Kittel, Jim Lannen, R. J. Lesch, Larry Lester, John Lewis, Richard Malatzky, Skip McAfee, David McCarthy, Bob McConnell, David McDonald, Wayne McElreavy, Brian McKenna, Eric Miklich, Sammy Miller, Andrew Milner, Jim Moyes, Art Neff, Rod Nelson, David Nemec, Gene Newman, Marc Okkonen, Pete Palmer, Greg Rhodes, Kevin Saldana, Jay Sanford, John Schwartz, Joe Simenic, Bob Schaefer, Tom Shieber, David W. Smith, Alan Smitley, Lyle Spatz, Rick Stattler, Steve Steinberg, Dean Thilgen, the late Richard Thompson, John Thorn, Bob Timmermann, Frank Vaccaro, David Vincent, Mike Welsh and Tim Wiles. My apologies to anyone whose name has been omitted.

Ivan Dee has shown enormous faith in this project and contributed meticulous editing while his staff has been unfailingly helpful. I am very appreciative of the many friends, family members, and co-workers who have offered moral supportor at least refrained from laughing at the idea of a work of such specificity and length. A special thanks to all of the members of the Michigan State volleyball community, past and present, for their friendship and support. Go Green!

Naturally, the errors and shortcomings that remain are solely my responsibility.

BOOKS

1864 American Boys Book of Sports and Games (New York, 1864; reprint New York, 2000)

Melvin L. Adelman, A Sporting Time: New York City and the Rise of Modern Athletics, 182070 (Urbana, Ill., 1986)

Aetna Base Ball Association Constitution and By-Laws (unpublished logbook; Burton Collection, Detroit Public Library)

William E. Akin, West Virginia Baseball: A History, 18652000 (Jefferson, N.C., 2006)

Lee Allen, Cooperstown Corner: Columns from the Sporting News, 19621969 (Cleveland, 1990)

Lee Allen, The Hot Stove League (New York, 1955; reprint Kingston, N.Y., 2000)

David W. Anderson, More Than Merkle (Lincoln, Nebr., 2000)

Will Anderson, Was Baseball Really Invented in Maine? (Portland, Me., 1992)

Roger Angell, Once More Around the Park: A Baseball Reader (New York, 1991; reprint Chicago, 2001)

Roger Angell, A Pitchers Story: Innings with David Cone (New York, 2001)

Roger Angell, The Summer Game (New York, 1972)

Adrian C. Cap Anson, A Ball Players Career (Chicago, 1900; reprint Mattituck, N.Y., n.d.)

Marty Appel, Slide, Kelly, Slide: The Wild Life and Times of Mike King Kelly, Baseballs First Superstar (Lanham, Md., 1999)

Marty Appel, Yesterdays Heroes (New York, 1988)

David Arcidiacono, Grace, Grit and Growling (East Hampton, Conn., 2003)

Jean Hastings Ardell, Breaking into Baseball: Women and the National Pastime (Carbondale, Ill., 2005)

Mark Armour, ed., Rain Check: Baseball in the Pacific Northwest (Cleveland, 2006)

Gustav Axelson, COMMY: The Life Story of Charles A. Comiskey (Chicago, 1919)

Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution (London, 1867)

Richard Bak, Peach: Ty Cobb in His Time and Ours (Ann Arbor, 2005)

Red Barber, The Broadcasters (New York, 1970)

Red Barber, 1947: When All Hell Broke Loose in Baseball (New York, 1984)

The Barry Halper Collection of Baseball Memorabilia (New York, 1999)

Gai Ingham Berlage, Women in Baseball: The Forgotten History (Westport, Conn., 1994)

Charlie Bevis, The New England League: A Baseball History, 18851949 (Jefferson, N.C., 2008)

Charlie Bevis, Sunday Baseball: The Major Leagues Struggle to Play Baseball on the Lords Day, 18761934 (Jefferson, N.C., 2003)

David Block, Baseball Before We Knew It (Lincoln, Nebr., 2005)

Don Bollman, Run for the Roses: A Fifty Year Memoir (Mecosta, Mich., 1975)

Bill Borst, Baseball Through a Knothole: A St. Louis History (St. Louis, 1980)

Talmage Boston, 1939, Baseballs Pivotal Year: From the Golden Age to the Modern Era (Fort Worth, Tex., 1994)

Jim Bouton, edited by Leonard Shecter, Ball Four: My Life and Hard Times Throwing the Knuckleball in the Big Leagues (New York, 1970)

Larry G. Bowman, Before the World Series: Pride, Profits and Baseballs First Championships (De Kalb, Ill., 2003)

James H. Bready, Baseball in Baltimore (Baltimore, 1998)

Eric Bronson, ed., Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batters Box (Chicago, 2004)

Jim Brosnan, The Long Season (New York, 1960; reprint Chicago, 2002)

Warren Brown, The Chicago Cubs (New York, 1946; reprint Carbondale, Ill., 2001)

Lois Browne, Girls of Summer: The Real Story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (Toronto, 1992)

Reed Browning, Baseballs Greatest Season, 1924 (Amherst, Mass., 2003)

Reed Browning, Cy Young: A Baseball Life (Amherst, Mass., 2000)

Robert F. Burk, Much More Than a Game: Players, Owners and American Baseball Since 1921 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 2001)

Robert F. Burk, Never Just a Game: Players, Owners and American Baseball to 1920 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1994)

J. P. Caillault, A Tale of Four Cities (Jefferson, N.C., 2003)

Bob Carroll, Baseball Between the Lies (New York, 1993)

Robin Carver, The Boys and Girls Book of Sports (Boston, 1834)

Jon David Cash, Before They Were Cardinals: Major League Baseball in Nineteenth-Century St. Louis (Columbia, Mo., 2002)

Jerrold Casway, Ed Delahanty in the Emerald Age of Baseball (Notre Dame, Ind., 2004)

David Cataneo, Tony C.: The Triumph and Tragedy of Tony Conigliaro (Nashville, 1997)

Henry Chadwick, Chadwicks Base Ball Manual (London, 1874)

Henry Chadwick, The American Game of Base Ball (aka