Flappers & Fiction

From the dusty sandlots of Rockford, Illinois, where boys played “one-old-cat,” to a surreal match played beneath the Egyptian Pyramids, this is the story of how base-ball attempted to conquer the world. A.G. Spalding recounts the game’s scrappy infancy and the fierce battle to scrub away the stain of 1870s gambling rings, culminating in an audacious tour that brought American batters to the Roman Coliseum. It is a spirited defense of our national pastime, written by the man who helped shape its very soul.