One Nation Under Baseball: How the 1960s Collided with the National Pastime

Review\n"One Nation Under Baseball . . . looks at how the turmoil of the 1960s sowed the seeds for today's game. A recurrent theme is ballplayers' fight for higher wages, and when the labor lawyer Marvin Miller was hired in 1966 to lead the players' union, it was all over but the court filing: The Curt Flood case taking on baseball's reserve clause would eventually lead to free agency. This excellent read also covers race relations and other social issues, as well as the decade's most memorable teams, players and events."—Daniel M. Gold, New York Times Published On: 2017-04-02\n"Careful, pointed writing shows us that professional sports should not be viewed in isolation from the society in which they function."—Kirkus Published On: 2017-01-24\n“One great story after another. Mickey Mantle. Muhammad Ali. Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. Martin Luther King. The moon landing. Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please!”—Jim Bouton, author of Ball Four
Published On: 2016-09-07\n"A riveting account."—Allen Barra, Dallas News Published On: 2017-03-29\n"A brilliant history, both of baseball and our nation."—Bob Mayberry, Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine\n"A compelling account of how many of the major cultural challenges and social upheavals during the 1960s interacted with Major League Baseball."—Joseph L. Price, ARETE Published On: 2017-10-19\n“An important inside historical account of baseball’s awakening amid the social change in America in the ’60s. Florio and Shapiro cover it all in riveting and incisive fashion, from the press box to the baseball boardrooms, the clubhouse, and the courthouse.”—Bill Madden, Hall of Fame baseball writer
Published On: 2016-09-07\n"Florio and Shapiro have captured the essence of the decade offering some compelling stories of the events and people."—Richard Crepeau, New York Journal of Books\n"This well-researched and -referenced book is a very enjoyable read. Everybody who is interested in knowing and understanding the history of baseball and race relations in America must read it."—Washington Book Review\nOne Nation Under Baseball highlights the intersection between American society and America’s pastime during the 1960s, when the hallmarks of the sport—fairness, competition, and mythology—came under scrutiny. John Florio and Ouisie Shapiro examine the events of the era that reshaped the game: the Koufax and Drysdale million-dollar holdout, the encroachment of television on newspaper coverage, the changing perception of ballplayers from mythic figures to overgrown boys, the arrival of the everyman Mets and their free-spirited fans, and the lawsuit brought against team owners by Curt Flood. One Nation Under Baseball brings to life the seminal figures of the era—including Bob Gibson, Marvin Miller, Tom Seaver, and Dick Young—richly portraying their roles during a decade of flux and uncertainty.