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Gathering Crowds: Catching Baseball Fever in the New Era of Free Agency
When baseball’s reserve clause was struck down in late 1975 and ushered in free agency, club owners feared it would ruin the game; instead, there seemed to be no end to the “baseball fever” that would grip America. In Gathering Crowds: Catching Baseball Fever in the New Era of Free Agency, Paul Hensler details how baseball grew and evolved from the late 1970s through the 1980s. Trepidation that without the reserve clause only wealthy teams would succeed diminished when small-market clubs in Minnesota, Kansas City, and Boston found their way to pennants and World Series titles. The proliferation of games broadcast on cable and satellite systems seemed to create a thirst for more baseball rather than discourage fans from going to the ballpark. And as fans clicked the turnstiles and purchased more and more team-licensed products, the national pastime proved it could survive and thrive even as other professional sports leagues vied for the public’s attention. By the end of the 1980s, baseball had positioned itself to progress into the future stronger and more popular than ever. Gathering Crowds reveals how the national pastime moved beyond the grasp of the reserve clause to endure a lengthy strike and drug scandals and then prosper as it never had before. The book also offers insight into how societal issues influenced baseball in this new era, from women in the clubhouses and minorities finally named as managers to a gay player’s debut at the big-league level. Gathering Crowds is a fascinating examination of baseball’s transformation during this unprecedented era.
360 pages, Hardcover
Published April 28, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 11, 2023
The period between 1975 and 1990 was a very turbulent time for the sport of baseball. The players were granted freedom to seek employment with new teams after decades of being bound to one club under the reserve clause. In addition to this, there were labor disputes resulting in player strikes, there was collusion amongst the owners to try to keep salaries down during free agency and there were drug problems. All of this and more is captured in this all-encompassing book by Paul Hensler.
This opening paragraph says a lot – and that doesn’t even cover all the topics Hensler writes about in the book. There are also sections on various social issues within the game such as the treatment of female reports and women working in the game, such as female umpires. There is mention of the first openly gay player and umpire. There are sections about each commissioner during this period and what issues all three of them – Bowie Kuhn, Peter Ueberroth and A. Bartlett Giamatti – had to face during their tenures. While admirable, trying to cover so much ground in one book meant each topic was highlighted instead of truly covered deeply.
As a result of that, the audience that would be most interested in the book, fans who enjoyed the game during that time, would most likely already be familiar with most of the material. Ironically, Hensler writes the book to also make the case of how much the game grew in popularity in both paid attendance and television viewing. On that avenue, he does succeed and does a fine job illustrating that despite all of the labor issues and other negative publicity the game faced, interest did grow. It should also be noted that part of this could also be attributed to another aspect Hensler illustrates. That is despite the fears of owners and commissioners that small market teams could not compete with the larger, richer clubs, several of them enjoyed success and won titles. These included the Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins and Baltimore Orioles. I used the Orioles here because Hensler did group them with smaller markets.
Overall, this is a decent book and Hensler covers a lot of ground. It just may be too much ground as readers who know little or nothing about that time period of baseball may gain more knowledge than more ardent fans.
I wish to thank Rowman and Littlefield for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
This opening paragraph says a lot – and that doesn’t even cover all the topics Hensler writes about in the book. There are also sections on various social issues within the game such as the treatment of female reports and women working in the game, such as female umpires. There is mention of the first openly gay player and umpire. There are sections about each commissioner during this period and what issues all three of them – Bowie Kuhn, Peter Ueberroth and A. Bartlett Giamatti – had to face during their tenures. While admirable, trying to cover so much ground in one book meant each topic was highlighted instead of truly covered deeply.
As a result of that, the audience that would be most interested in the book, fans who enjoyed the game during that time, would most likely already be familiar with most of the material. Ironically, Hensler writes the book to also make the case of how much the game grew in popularity in both paid attendance and television viewing. On that avenue, he does succeed and does a fine job illustrating that despite all of the labor issues and other negative publicity the game faced, interest did grow. It should also be noted that part of this could also be attributed to another aspect Hensler illustrates. That is despite the fears of owners and commissioners that small market teams could not compete with the larger, richer clubs, several of them enjoyed success and won titles. These included the Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins and Baltimore Orioles. I used the Orioles here because Hensler did group them with smaller markets.
Overall, this is a decent book and Hensler covers a lot of ground. It just may be too much ground as readers who know little or nothing about that time period of baseball may gain more knowledge than more ardent fans.
I wish to thank Rowman and Littlefield for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
August 10, 2021
This is one of those "piles of information" books. It tells you a lot of stuff about the topic ... but it's never really clear what the main point is, or if there even is one. It's just "stuff about baseball from the mid-1970s until the end of the 1980s." Why those end points? Well, one is the start of free agency. The other .... is just when the author decided to stop. Yeah, if you're just going to give piles of info, it helps that there's a clear reason why you're picking a particular topic/period.
When I got this book, I thought there would be a main point - how baseball won over new fans in this era. I knew going in that baseball attendance was stable (neither really rising or growing overall) from the mid-1950s until the mid-1970s, before entering a takeoff in the back half of the 1970s. I thought this book might connect that to free agency. Nope. Hensler just wants to tell us stuff about these years. The opening chapters do talk about the business of baseball and he does know that attendance went up - but it's just a pile of info he's presenting, and it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the rest of the book. OK, then.
I already knew what happened in baseball in these years. I was hoping for some fresh ideas or insight. Nope. Just piles of info.
When I got this book, I thought there would be a main point - how baseball won over new fans in this era. I knew going in that baseball attendance was stable (neither really rising or growing overall) from the mid-1950s until the mid-1970s, before entering a takeoff in the back half of the 1970s. I thought this book might connect that to free agency. Nope. Hensler just wants to tell us stuff about these years. The opening chapters do talk about the business of baseball and he does know that attendance went up - but it's just a pile of info he's presenting, and it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the rest of the book. OK, then.
I already knew what happened in baseball in these years. I was hoping for some fresh ideas or insight. Nope. Just piles of info.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews