Krister Swanson

Just sort of a blow-by-blow of the history of player organizing and bargaining from the early days through 1981. Why it stops in 1981, I don't know. It doesn't really make an argument, and it doesn't live up to the promise of the title (tying the players' unionization efforts to the larger American sports culture). It relies heavily on recitation of various fan and media reactions to the players and their organizing efforts, because the author believes winning the air war is central to the players' making gains in their workplace, but he doesn't establish why that's the case. What's so important about the public's view? The story seems to me one more of developing consciousness and solidarity in the players and leveraging that into economic gains; the public and punditry were largely against the players for decades, yet they still made the gains they did from the late '60s on; if the public view and the media are so important, how did they do that?… (lisätietoja)

The book describes the evolution of the baseball labour movement, from the 1800s to the resolution of the 1981 strike. Since the book cuts off sharply after the 1981 strike, we don't get any content on owner collusion in the '80s, the '94 strike that lead to the cancellation of the World Series, and the most recent two decades of labour peace. That a book published in 2016 skips all that is disappointing.

While this is an interesting read, I much prefer rel="nofollow" target="_top">John Helyar's Lords of the Realm.… (lisätietoja)