Full Description
As a player, manager, team captain, umpire, owner and league president, Hall of Famer Jim O'Rourke (1851-1918) spoke for the players in the emerging game of baseball. O'Rourke's career paralleled the rise of the game from a regional sport with few strategies to the national pastime. Nicknamed "Orator" for his booming voice and his championing of the rights of professional athletes, he was a driving force in making the sport a profession, bringing respectability to the role of professional baseball player.
From contemporary sources, O'Rourke's own correspondence, and player files available through the National Baseball Library, a rounded portrait of Jim O'Rourke emerges. Quick to speak his mind, the outfielder played on nine pennant-winning teams, but his playing career was overshadowed by his work in organizing baseball's first union. After his playing days ended, O'Rourke attempted to establish the Connecticut League, becoming the circuit's president, secretary, and treasury. Though the league failed to fully materialize, his Bridgeport Victors did play several games and were one of the few racially integrated teams--a fact emblematic of O'Rourke's efforts to change the national pastime. In those efforts, he attempted to wrest control of the game from the owners and empower the players. A carefully researched account of O'Rourke's life and career, this biography also provides a behind-the-scenes look at the growth of the national pastime from the Civil War through the deadball era.
Contents
Table of Contents
Preface
Prologue
1. Beginnings
2. Jim Joins the Club (1866-1871)
3. Middletown Mansfields (1872)
4. Boston Red Stockings (1873)
5. The Red Stockings in Great Britain (1874)
6. The Tools of Ignorance (1875)
7. Boston Red Caps (1876-1878)
8. Providence Grays (1879)
9. Return to the Boston Red Caps (1880)
10. Buffalo Bisons (1881-1883)
11. John O'Rourke Joins the Mets (1883)
12. National League Batting Champion (1884)
13. New York Giants (1885-1887)
14. O'Rourke at Yale Law School (1885-1887)
15. The Brotherhood (1886-1887)
16. The Color Line (1887)
17. Orations (1888)
18. The Giants Win the Pennant (1888)
19. The Baseball War (1889)
20. The World's Series (1889)
21. Players' League Giants (1890)
22. Return to National League Giants (1891-1892)
23. Washington Senators (1893)
24. National League Umpire (1894)
25. Bridgeport Victors (1895-1897)
26. New Home for the Bridgeports (1898-1900)
27. Defending the Minor Leagues (1900-1903)
28. The Bridgeport Orators (1903-1907)
29. The NAPBL (1907)
30. Hanging Up the Glove (1908-1910)
31. Baseball's Elder Statesman (1911-1913)
32. The New England Baseball War (1913-1919)
33. The Baseball Wars: A Look Back
34. Epilogue
Appendix A: Jim O'Rourke's Professional Statistics
Appendix B: Evolution of the Rules of Baseball
Appendix C: The Bat
Appendix D: The Ball
Notes
Bibliography
Index
