Major league baseball in the 1970s : a modern game emerges /

This is a splendid book. The opening chapter on Curt Flood's challenge to the reserve clause and a closing chapter on Walter O'Malley's death bracket more than 30 discrete essays on baseball in the era of Bench and Carlton, Carew and Ryan. This reviewer quarrels only with the subtitle: there is no reason to prefer the 1970s over the 1940s or the 1990s as the moment for the emergence of modernity in an enterprise as perpetually evolutionary as major league baseball. But everything else about this volume clicks. Preston treats subjects as diverse as the reception of Jim Bouton's Ball Four (1970), the introduction of the designated hitter, and the tortured artistry of Ron Luciano. He challenges received views about such subjects as the gratitude fans should owe Marvin Miller for setting players free and the character of Bob Howsam's tactics in building the "Big Red Machine." He even finds valuable lessons about baseball in the 1970s in the careers of such peripheral figures as Jim Bibby, Vern Rapp, and Ron Hunt. Preston has written the book (and the endnotes) in a deliciously engaging manner, without lapsing into cuteness or pretentiousness. Go for it. ^BSumming Up: Essential. All collections supporting the study of sports. R. Browning Kenyon College