Research Catalog
Breaking Babe Ruth : baseball's campaign against its biggest star
- Title
- Breaking Babe Ruth : baseball's campaign against its biggest star / Edmund F. Wehrle.
- Author
- Wehrle, Edmund F., 1964-
- Publication
- Columbia : University of Missouri, [2018]
Items in the Library & Off-site
Filter by
1 Item
Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | JFE 18-8994 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Details
- Description
- xii, 290 pages; 24 cm.
- Summary
- "Rather than as a Falstaffian figure of limited intellect, Edmund Wehrle reveals Babe Ruth as an ambitious, independent operator, one not afraid to challenge baseball's draconian labor system. To the baseball establishment, Ruth's immense popularity represented opportunity, but his rebelliousness and potential to overturn the status quo presented a threat. After a decades-long campaign waged by baseball to contain and discredit him, the Babe, frustrated and struggling with injuries and illness, grew more acquiescent, but the image of Ruth that baseball perpetuated still informs how many people remember him to this day. This new perspective, approaching Ruth more seriously and placing his life in fuller context, is long overdue"--
- "This book project turns on its head popular memories of Babe Ruth--perhaps the most influential sports figure of the past century. Virtually every biographical treatment depicts Ruth the same way: a man tall on athletic talent and personality--yet short on intellectual acumen and good sense. This perception results directly from a two-decade war waged against Ruth by major league baseball. Burdened by labor strife, challenges from "outlaw" leagues, gambling, and violence on and off the field, the baseball establishment pined for stability and profitability as it dragged itself out of the World War I era. Beginning in 1920, Babe Ruth emerged the singular answer to baseball's afflictions: a player so popular and thrilling that he drove up profits and interest in the game around the country--diverting attention from the serious problems plaguing baseball. In Ruth, however, the game's leadership class found a problematic savior. The Babe's independent streak, his volatile (although quick passing) temper, his assertiveness, and his obvious sympathy for player rights deeply unnerved management. Thus began an organized campaign both to exploit and to contain the superstar"--
- Series Statement
- Sports and American culture
- Uniform Title
- Sports and American culture series.
- Subjects
- Baseball
- Baseball players
- History
- Major League Baseball (Organization) History > 20th century
- Biographies
- United States
- Ruth, Babe, 1895-1948
- Baseball players > United States > Biography
- SPORTS & RECREATION > Baseball > History
- Biography
- 1900-1999
- Baseball > United States > History > 20th century
- Major League Baseball (Organization)
- Genre/Form
- Biography.
- History.
- Biographies.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Call Number
- JFE 18-8994
- ISBN
- 9780826221605
- 0826221602
- LCCN
- 2017052792
- OCLC
- 1010545396
- Author
- Wehrle, Edmund F., 1964- author.
- Title
- Breaking Babe Ruth : baseball's campaign against its biggest star / Edmund F. Wehrle.
- Publisher
- Columbia : University of Missouri, [2018]
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Series
- Sports and American cultureSports and American culture series.
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Chronological Term
- 1900-1999
- Other Form:
- Online version: Wehrle, Edmund F., 1964- Breaking Babe Ruth. Columbia : University of Missouri, 2018 9780826274090 (DLC) 2017060404
- Research Call Number
- JFE 18-8994