In the mid-nineteenth century, two industries arrived on the American scene. One was strictly a business, yet it helped create, define, and disseminate American culture. The other was ostensibly just a game, yet it soon became emblematic of what it meant to be American, aiding in the creation of a national identity. Today, whenever the AT&amp;T call to the bullpen is heard, fans enter Minute Maid Park, or vote for favorite All-Stars (brought to us by MasterCard), we are reminded that advertising has become inseparable from the MLB experience. Here’s the Pitch examines this connection between baseball and advertising, as both constructors and reflectors of culture. Roberta J. Newman considers the simultaneous development of both industries from the birth of the partnership, paying particular attention to the ways in which advertising spread the gospel of baseball at the same time professional baseball helped develop a body of consumers ready for the messages of advertising. Newman considers the role of product endorsements in the creation of the culture of celebrity, and of celebrity baseball players in particular, as well as the ways in which new technologies have impacted the intersection of the two industries. From Ty Cobb to Babe Ruth in the 1920s and 1930s to Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Willie Mays in the postwar years, to Derek Jeter, Rafael Palmeiro, and David Ortiz in the twenty-first century, Newman looks at many of baseball’s celebrated players and shows what qualities made them the perfect pitchmen for new products at key moments. Here’s the Pitch tells the story of the development of American and an increasingly international culture through the marriage between Mad Men and The Boys of Summer that made for great copy, notable TV advertisements, and lively social media, and shows how baseball’s relationship with advertising is stronger than ever.

Here's the Pitch: The Amazing, True, New, and Improved Story of Baseball and Advertising

Business & Money

Newman, Roberta J.

Marketing & Sales

University Of Nebraska Press

Winner of the 2014 Robert W. Peterson Award for Excellence in Negro League Research from the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, sponsored by Negro Leagues Committee of the Society for American Baseball ResearchRoberta J. Newman and Joel Nathan Rosen have written an authoritative social history of the Negro Leagues. This book examines how the relationship between black baseball and black businesses functioned, particularly in urban areas with significant African American populations--Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Newark, New York, Philadelphia, and more. Inextricably bound together by circumstance, these sports and business alliances faced destruction and upheaval.Once Jackie Robinson and a select handful of black baseball's elite gained acceptance in Major League Baseball and financial stability in the mainstream economy, shock waves traveled throughout the black business world. Though the economic impact on Negro League baseball is perhaps obvious due to its demise, the impact on other black-owned businesses and on segregated neighborhoods is often undervalued if not outright ignored in current accounts. There have been many books written on great individual players who played in the Negro Leagues and/or integrated the Major Leagues. But Newman and Rosen move beyond hagiography to analyze what happens when a community has its economic footing undermined while simultaneously being called upon to celebrate a larger social progress. In this regard, Black Baseball, Black Business moves beyond the diamond to explore baseball's desegregation narrative in a critical and wide-ranging fashion.

Black Baseball, Black Business: Race Enterprise and the Fate of the Segregated Dollar

Economics

UNIVERSITY PRESS OF MISSISSIPPI

Winner of the 2014 Robert W. Peterson Award for Excellence in Negro League Research from the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, sponsored by Negro Leagues Committee of the Society for American Baseball Research Roberta J. Newman and Joel Nathan Rosen have written an authoritative social history of the Negro Leagues. This book examines how the relationship between black baseball and black businesses functioned, particularly in urban areas with significant African American populations―Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Newark, New York, Philadelphia, and more. Inextricably bound together by circumstance, these sports and business alliances faced destruction and upheaval. Once Jackie Robinson and a select handful of black baseball’s elite gained acceptance in Major League Baseball and financial stability in the mainstream economy, shock waves traveled throughout the black business world. Though the economic impact on Negro League baseball is perhaps obvious due to its demise, the impact on other black-owned businesses and on segregated neighborhoods is often undervalued if not outright ignored in current accounts. There have been many books written on great individual players who played in the Negro Leagues and/or integrated the Major Leagues. But Newman and Rosen move beyond hagiography to analyze what happens when a community has its economic footing undermined while simultaneously being called upon to celebrate a larger social progress. In this regard, Black Baseball, Black Business moves beyond the diamond to explore baseball’s desegregation narrative in a critical and wide-ranging fashion.

Rosen, Joel Nathan

Nichibei Yakyu: US Tours of Japan, Volume II: 1960-2019 (Nichibei Yakyu: Baseball Tours of Japan)

History

Fitts, Robert K.

Tran, Henry

Shadlow, Robert Kiyoshi

Cromwel, Carter

McCormac, Susan Miyagi

Raichura, Trevor

Kanter, Mark

Asia

Society for American Baseball Research

Over 100 baseball teams from the United States and Hawaii have crossed the Pacific to play baseball in Japan. Nichibei Yakyu: US Tours of Japan is the first book written in English that focuses on these international tours. 
Discover in this book, how: 
The female Philadelphia Bobbies team tour ended in tragedy 
Babe Ruth tried to prevent World War II 
Lefty O’Doul helped reunite the US and Japan through baseball 
A Native American baseball team was cheated and stranded 5000 miles from home 
A Negro League team helped start Japanese professional baseball 
Japanese Americans used baseball to build a bridge between the two cultures 
Joe DiMaggio and Jackie Robinson finished their careers in Japan 
These, and many other stories, introduce readers to the fascinating world of Japanese baseball. 
Volume One focuses on tours between 1907 and 1958. During this time period, many of the sport’s greatest stars—including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson—played in the Land of the Rising Sun. These tours helped spread the game across the globe, spawned thousands of individual friendships, and helped bring nations together through the mutual love of baseball. 
Volume One contains individual chapters written by leading members of the Society for American Baseball Research on all 15 professional squads that traveled to Japan before 1960 as well as four collegiate and eight amateur/semipro teams. Each chapter is accompanied by game results and, when available, player statistics. 
Robert K. Fitts is the author of seven books on Japanese baseball and Japanese baseball cards. Fitts is the founder of SABR’s Asian Baseball Committee and a recipient of the society’s 2013 Seymour Medal for Best Baseball Book of 2012, the 2019 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award, the 2012 Doug Pappas Award for best research presentation at the SABR convention, and the 2006 and 2021 SABR Research Awards. He has twice been a finalist for the Casey Award and has received two silver medals at the Independent Publisher Book Awards. While living in Tokyo in 1993-94, Fitts began collecting Japanese baseball cards and now runs Robs Japanese Cards LLC. Information on Rob’s work is available at RobFitts.com.

Nichibei Yakyu: US Tours of Japan Volume 1, 1907 - 1958 (Nichibei Yakyu: Baseball Tours of Japan)

Sports & Outdoors

Snelling, Dennis

Berenbak, Adam

Williams, Kat D.

Nagata, Yoichi

Pearce, Ralph M.

Baseball

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