Tumultuous Times in America's Game

This book provides a comprehensive narrative and analysis of major developments, key figures, and significant moments in Major League Baseball, from the integration of Jackie Robinson in 1947 to the owners-instigated catastrophic players’ strike of 1994-95 that cost the national pastime a championship season.

Bryan Soderholm-Difatte is a former senior analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Counterterrorism Center. He is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and a regular contributor to The Baseball Research Journal. He is the author of The Golden Era of Major League Baseball: A Time of Transition and Integration (2015) and America's Game: A History of Major League Baseball through World War II (2017), both published by Rowman & Littlefield.

Preface PART I: BASEBALL'S INTEGRATION AND EXPANSIONIST IMPERATIVE 1: Baseball's Postwar Landscape: The "Race Question" and "Player Relationships" 2: The Yankees' Dynastic Momentum Returns 3: Brooklyn's Glorious Decade of Baseball 4: Relocation (Braves), Relocation (Browns), Relocation (Athletics) 5: Integration's Incremental Progress 6: Baseball's Manifest Destiny: The Road to Expansion 7: The First Latin Wave PART II: THE LAST OF THE OLD-FASHIONED PENNANT RACES 8: West Coast Rivalry 9: The Perils of Genius: Explaining the '64 Phillies' Epic Collapse 10: The (Temporary) End of the Yankees' Forever Dynasty 11: Waiting in the Wings When the Yanks Went Down 12: Baseball's Last Great Pennant Race and the Impossible Dream Team 13: Expansion Decade 14: Let's Go, Mets: Durocher on the Other Side of a Miracle PART III: SHIFTING BALANCES IN THE GAME AND THE BUSINESS OF BASEBALL 15: Race, War, Cultural Upheaval, and Baseball in America 16: From Pitchers Rule to the DH Rule 17: O's and A's and Their Winning Ways 18: The Rise of the Big Red Machine and the Return of Dodger Blue 19: Sparky's Hook: Anticipating the Quality Start 20: Marvin Miller Time: Not the (Presumed) End of Baseball History 21: A New Boss Reboots the Yankee Dynasty 22: Pennsylvania Has Its Say in the NL East PART IV: BASEBALL'S (ALMOST) "ALL IN IT TO WIN IT" DECADE 23: 1980s AL East: Taking Advantage of Yankees Dysfunction 24: Squandered Greatness: The Rise and Demise of a Mets Dynasty 25: Red Sox, Cubs, and the Weight of History 26: How the '80s AL West Was Won 27: Musical Chairs in the NL West 28: Failure to Launch: Where Winning Was a Losing Proposition PART V: BASEBALL AT THE BRINK 29: The Pete Rose Affair, the A's 'Roid Age, and the Integrity of the Game 30: Redefining the End Game: Paradigm Shifts in the Role of Relief Ace 31: The Consolidation of Integration and the Importance of Cito Gaston 32: Baseball's Great Divide 33: From Collusion to Bud Selig's Coup (and the Eve of Destruction) 34: The Day the Music Stopped Bibliography Index About the Author