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The Empire Strikes Out: How Baseball Sold U.S. Foreign Policy and Promoted the American Way Abroad
Is the face of American baseball throughout the world that of goodwill ambassador or ugly American? Has baseball crafted its own image or instead been at the mercy of broader forces shaping our society and the globe? The Empire Strikes Out gives us the sweeping story of how baseball and America are intertwined in the export of the American way.”
From the Civil War to George W. Bush and the Iraq War, we see baseball’s role in developing the American empire, first at home and then beyond our shores. And from Albert Spalding and baseball’s first World Tour to Bud Selig and the World Baseball Classic, we witness the globalization of America’s national pastime and baseball’s role in spreading the American dream. Besides describing baseball’s frequent and often surprising connections to America’s presence around the world, Elias assesses the effects of this relationship both on our foreign policies and on the sport itself and asks whether baseball can play a positive role or rather only reinforce America’s dominance around the globe. Like Franklin Foer in How Soccer Explains the World , Elias is driven by compelling stories, unusual events, and unique individuals. His seamless integration of original research and compelling analysis makes this a baseball book that’s about more than just sports.
From the Civil War to George W. Bush and the Iraq War, we see baseball’s role in developing the American empire, first at home and then beyond our shores. And from Albert Spalding and baseball’s first World Tour to Bud Selig and the World Baseball Classic, we witness the globalization of America’s national pastime and baseball’s role in spreading the American dream. Besides describing baseball’s frequent and often surprising connections to America’s presence around the world, Elias assesses the effects of this relationship both on our foreign policies and on the sport itself and asks whether baseball can play a positive role or rather only reinforce America’s dominance around the globe. Like Franklin Foer in How Soccer Explains the World , Elias is driven by compelling stories, unusual events, and unique individuals. His seamless integration of original research and compelling analysis makes this a baseball book that’s about more than just sports.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
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148 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 6, 2023
The top reviews of this are so fucking funny I could scroll through them for hours. Never have negative reviews encouraged me to read something more!
"I wanted to read a book about baseball" – I mean it is that. it is about baseball – and US foreign politics. Which the title tells you. At which point in its blurb were you misled into thinking it was going to be full of fun anecdotes and not primarily about American baseball's links to politics and the military?
"The author can't keep his lefty politics out of it" – Well... the author is a political science prof and I hate to break the news but... shockingly, that is the way things are and you're also sort of proving why this book is relevant.
There seems to be a general undertone of you're not allowed to criticize what you love among reviewers of this book which doesn't per se surprise me but also, I couldn't relate less. I love baseball (and sports in general). I also think it's incredibly important to be conscious of the less illustrious parts of what we love – especially when they're such a powerful symbol as baseball is of and for the US. Sorry, but we live in a society, sports are part of society, and society is inherently political. You can't separate sports from politics. And neither sports nor the US are innocent in perpetuating violence.
Anyway – this was a fascinating analysis of baseball's intricate links to American politics and especially the military throughout the history of the sport. It was also very well-written – which really isn't the norm for academic book / books written by academics. I'm not the most well-versed in baseball history so I particularly enjoyed how this provided a narrative of the sport as a whole alongside its political commentary.
"I wanted to read a book about baseball" – I mean it is that. it is about baseball – and US foreign politics. Which the title tells you. At which point in its blurb were you misled into thinking it was going to be full of fun anecdotes and not primarily about American baseball's links to politics and the military?
"The author can't keep his lefty politics out of it" – Well... the author is a political science prof and I hate to break the news but... shockingly, that is the way things are and you're also sort of proving why this book is relevant.
There seems to be a general undertone of you're not allowed to criticize what you love among reviewers of this book which doesn't per se surprise me but also, I couldn't relate less. I love baseball (and sports in general). I also think it's incredibly important to be conscious of the less illustrious parts of what we love – especially when they're such a powerful symbol as baseball is of and for the US. Sorry, but we live in a society, sports are part of society, and society is inherently political. You can't separate sports from politics. And neither sports nor the US are innocent in perpetuating violence.
Anyway – this was a fascinating analysis of baseball's intricate links to American politics and especially the military throughout the history of the sport. It was also very well-written – which really isn't the norm for academic book / books written by academics. I'm not the most well-versed in baseball history so I particularly enjoyed how this provided a narrative of the sport as a whole alongside its political commentary.
February 22, 2012
Good history, but horrible political science. Unfortunately, Elias is determined to fit his lefty views into every paragraph somehow. At points it is laughable. My favorite is his question suggesting that it may not be a coincidence that "Bad News Bears" was released the same week that Lt. Calley of My Lai infamy appealed his conviction. I can go on. Many of Elias' comments could just as easily be made about Canada's spread of hockey or the NBA's successful global dominance.
There is quite a bit of interesting history and there really could and should have been more. Who knew that Sir Thomas Lipton became a baseball fan while studying in the U.S. and tried to introduce the game on his tea plantations? While Elias keeps trying to assert that the U.S. military was responsible for the spread of baseball he passes by many interesting anecdotes about people who studied in the U.S. and introduced baseball to their countries, including Japan. The Japanese and Cubans were as instrumental in its spread as the U.S. was (Cubans introduced baseball to Mexico and Japanese immigrants introduced baseball to Brazil!). Maybe some day somebody will write a better book with fewer polemics.
There is quite a bit of interesting history and there really could and should have been more. Who knew that Sir Thomas Lipton became a baseball fan while studying in the U.S. and tried to introduce the game on his tea plantations? While Elias keeps trying to assert that the U.S. military was responsible for the spread of baseball he passes by many interesting anecdotes about people who studied in the U.S. and introduced baseball to their countries, including Japan. The Japanese and Cubans were as instrumental in its spread as the U.S. was (Cubans introduced baseball to Mexico and Japanese immigrants introduced baseball to Brazil!). Maybe some day somebody will write a better book with fewer polemics.
October 31, 2013
Oh, my. I hoped this would be a book about baseball. And while there are stories from baseball, it is really a diatribe against the business of baseball and against the government of the United States when governed by conservatives. Any story from the past 100 years that mentioned baseball in a foreign country or with the military gets ink here, including multiple stories about the making of baseballs. Yes, sporting goods manufacturers get demonized as much as Major League Baseball here. The author implies conspiracy time and again, for instance using as evidence that MLB teams in Washington and San Francisco have military appreciation nights to illustrate baseball’s ties to the military. Hey, the White Sox have a librarian appreciation day – does that mean baseball is tied to the publishing empire? The book is full of snide and over-flowery side comments aimed at degrading the country or the business of baseball. A typical quote from near the end of the book: “Baseball’s export abroad has brought the American dream to a few, but an American nightmare for others.” And that’s one of the more optimistic pronouncements in the book…
It also gets quite repetitive, especially when discussing Republican presidents. Bush gets a large amount of vitriol here, as expected given his history with baseball. But I wonder, would this book have been written before Bush became president, or if he was tied to another sport like basketball? I doubt it.
I listened to this on audio. This probably added to my aversion to the book, because I couldn’t skim over the most repetitive parts and I couldn’t ignore the bizarre political logic. I tend not to listen to political books in general because of those issues. I did finish the book. I’d prefer having my time back. In summary, the baseball stories, while at times interesting, get outweighed by the repetitive negativity about baseball and government policies over the past century. On the plus side, I really like the picture on the cover of Uncle Sam swinging a bat.
It also gets quite repetitive, especially when discussing Republican presidents. Bush gets a large amount of vitriol here, as expected given his history with baseball. But I wonder, would this book have been written before Bush became president, or if he was tied to another sport like basketball? I doubt it.
I listened to this on audio. This probably added to my aversion to the book, because I couldn’t skim over the most repetitive parts and I couldn’t ignore the bizarre political logic. I tend not to listen to political books in general because of those issues. I did finish the book. I’d prefer having my time back. In summary, the baseball stories, while at times interesting, get outweighed by the repetitive negativity about baseball and government policies over the past century. On the plus side, I really like the picture on the cover of Uncle Sam swinging a bat.
April 7, 2017
This started off well enough, with an explanation for the term “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and the insinuation of what America’s most loved (and hated) team really stands for. Unfortunately, Page 1 was one of the few useful pieces in this story about baseball’s interrelationship with world politics.
I get that baseball isn’t perfect – certainly it’s had a long history of poor policies regarding race, sex, and war. But it isn’t awful either, especially when one compares it with other major sports in the States (and in spite of what some might say, in my humble opinion the decline in African American participation in baseball has little to do with racism but much to do with opportunities in other endeavors – and the participation of many other groups of people). In some ways baseball has been a leader in getting people together and expanding opportunities for the youth, not that we’d ever learn this here.
But what bothers me most about this is some lazy editing – Barry Zito was not traded from the A’s to the Giants, he leaped across the bay via free agency. And Bull Durham came out in 1988, which is 15 years prior to 2003, not 25. Those two factoids I have memorized, but could’ve been easily corrected if there’d been an editor worth a damn. Which makes me wonder about the stories I don’t know by heart….
I get that baseball isn’t perfect – certainly it’s had a long history of poor policies regarding race, sex, and war. But it isn’t awful either, especially when one compares it with other major sports in the States (and in spite of what some might say, in my humble opinion the decline in African American participation in baseball has little to do with racism but much to do with opportunities in other endeavors – and the participation of many other groups of people). In some ways baseball has been a leader in getting people together and expanding opportunities for the youth, not that we’d ever learn this here.
But what bothers me most about this is some lazy editing – Barry Zito was not traded from the A’s to the Giants, he leaped across the bay via free agency. And Bull Durham came out in 1988, which is 15 years prior to 2003, not 25. Those two factoids I have memorized, but could’ve been easily corrected if there’d been an editor worth a damn. Which makes me wonder about the stories I don’t know by heart….
July 26, 2010
Admittedly, hardball's a pretty narrow lens through which to examine America's history of militarism from the Revolutionary War (!) through WWs I and II, Vietnam and beyond. But Elias, who's both a baseball lover and a patriot (the kind who thinks America should actually, you know, live up to its ideals), renders a compelling shadow history of both sport and nation. Especially interesting are his observations about how Americans who spread hardball abroad (to Japan, for instance, or Cuba) have been continually surprised that it doesn't automatically make Americans out of the locals, who instead interpret the sport as a reflection of their own national character and ideals. Also plenty of revealing stuff about baseball's links to militarism (in the 1800s until the 1920s, it, and not football, was most linked to the martial virtues) and especially how Major League Baseball's leadership has repeatedly sold out the game itself (fans, players, etc.) under the guise of patriotism but actually in the interests of preserving their monopoly status and enriching their bank accounts. A good piece of work.
(By the way, this was my seventh annual baseball book, mostly read, like the others, on the train or bus home .... typically to catch a Phis game.)
(By the way, this was my seventh annual baseball book, mostly read, like the others, on the train or bus home .... typically to catch a Phis game.)
October 28, 2015
About a quarter of the way through I thought about quitting, but I kept going. Now that I'm finished I wish I had stopped. The research seems to be good and it does include baseball stories. However, the author dislikes organized baseball (MLB), the US Government and the US Military. I should have read the reviews and then I would have known what to expect. At times he criticizes MLB for things and suggests they could have done the alternative which he had already described negatively. If you can overlook his bias and just read the baseball facts, you'll enjoy it. I could site specifics, but many reviewers already have; just read their reviews. I listened to the MP3 and the negativity/sarcasm was tough to push through.
February 8, 2011
This book contained factinating materrial and covers very important topics. However, more often than not its rhetoric was overblown and conclusory. Rather than being persuasive, the use of language often provoked a negative reaction on my part, although I am in agreement with the author on most of his arguments. The was a great deal of repetition which made the book overlong and buried some of the most interesting revelations.
November 14, 2020
Confession, I'm not much of a baseball fan. I approached this book as a U.S. historian and soccer historian and really really enjoyed it. The strength of this book is the way the author draws the narrative beyond the baseball diamond. I found my understanding of U.S. foreign policy to be helpful in contextualizing the larger ideas here.
A few notes:
- I think the title is misleading. That's to say, I think the short title implies the "empire" of the United States "strikes out" as in strikes one, strike two, strike three, you are out. I believe the author is instead presenting this as a play on words that just implies it is striking out into the world. That said, if you are writing a book about baseball, I'm not sure that meaning would be the first you would think of. This book is actually relatively pro-American and pro-nationalism with the necessary sidebar of criticism when it comes to race and human rights. As much as the title says "foreign policy" in the United States those words almost always include some level of military intervention or interaction.
- As someone who knows little about the history of baseball, I found the overall historical narrative of the game very enlightening. I would be eager to look at other books that might highlight the non-military basis for the game.
- Reminded me a lot of the book "The Ball is Round" by David Goldblatt which presents the imperialism of soccer.
- Overall, I loved this book and am eager to find ways to teach from it.
A few notes:
- I think the title is misleading. That's to say, I think the short title implies the "empire" of the United States "strikes out" as in strikes one, strike two, strike three, you are out. I believe the author is instead presenting this as a play on words that just implies it is striking out into the world. That said, if you are writing a book about baseball, I'm not sure that meaning would be the first you would think of. This book is actually relatively pro-American and pro-nationalism with the necessary sidebar of criticism when it comes to race and human rights. As much as the title says "foreign policy" in the United States those words almost always include some level of military intervention or interaction.
- As someone who knows little about the history of baseball, I found the overall historical narrative of the game very enlightening. I would be eager to look at other books that might highlight the non-military basis for the game.
- Reminded me a lot of the book "The Ball is Round" by David Goldblatt which presents the imperialism of soccer.
- Overall, I loved this book and am eager to find ways to teach from it.
September 26, 2024
The author has some good points, but ultimately his “American bad” attitude ruins it. I can understand being critical of dropping the atomic bombs on Japan, I can’t be critical of professional baseball players raising money and visiting injured WW2 veterans. At one point the author claims Americans were upset when Bobby Abreu won the Home Run Derby and was draped with a Venezuelan flag, but provides no citation or evidence to support this. At multiple points the author points to the USA’s failure in the Olympics to suggest American baseball is inferior, yet never mentions that American professional don’t participate in Olympic baseball because it conflicts with MLB’s schedule. The book is littered with examples of the author’s America bad view.
It’s a shame, because this could have been an interesting book, and the other makes many good points about the negative impacts of America’s involvement in Central and South America.
It’s a shame, because this could have been an interesting book, and the other makes many good points about the negative impacts of America’s involvement in Central and South America.
June 10, 2022
More about the connection between baseball and militarism than about empire specifically, a really interesting book with many anecdotes connecting baseball to the spread of American foreign policy abroad. I enjoyed the book, even if it went on a variety of detours. A very well written conclusion.
April 12, 2021
Fantastic and informative read! I have recommended this book to many of my baseball (and non-baseball) loving friends.
December 17, 2021
a complete history of baseball which should be required reading as a supplement for all other baseball histories; draws out the historical unsaid
April 4, 2024
A strange mix of left-wing terminology and right-wing assumptions, this does a mediocre job of covering lots of important material.
May 7, 2025
The parts that were good were good but the parts that weren’t dragged. I probably would’ve formatted it differently I feel like the chronological order didn’t work the best. Feel like it would’ve been a great podcast
October 26, 2017
I think this is a good history of baseball. It's interesting to read about Washington's troops playing an early version of the game while camped out during the Revolutionary War, and the way the game supplanted Cricket because Cricket was considered a British game.
However, the author is an extraordinarily liberal/progressive professor who of course, writes as though his view of things is completely neutral and fair. But in the eyes of Elias, America is an imperialist Empire, constantly looking to oppress the poor and annex the rest of the world. After a few chapters of this, I gave up on the book. Elias strikes me as one of those who can find nothing redeeming in the United States. Of course, he still lives here. But I would be shocked if he thinks his home is the greatest nation on earth. I'm not asking him to say the US is perfect. But it would be nice if he could admit that there is a tremendous amount of good in our history. Has any other nation done as much as the United States to lift up the lives of the poor, both here and abroad? To embrace civil rights for all? Again, we're not perfect--but as Elias tells it, Uncle Sam is just some absentee father who would rather drink his paychecks and never come home and leave mom to raise the kids alone. And if he does come home, he's drunk and beats everyone mercilessly.
I don't see it that way, and will not waste more than a few hours on a book like this--not when there are more good books than I could read in ten lifetimes. Why bother with such neo-Marxist cynicism?
In Elias' defense, the title DOES indicate what is coming.
However, the author is an extraordinarily liberal/progressive professor who of course, writes as though his view of things is completely neutral and fair. But in the eyes of Elias, America is an imperialist Empire, constantly looking to oppress the poor and annex the rest of the world. After a few chapters of this, I gave up on the book. Elias strikes me as one of those who can find nothing redeeming in the United States. Of course, he still lives here. But I would be shocked if he thinks his home is the greatest nation on earth. I'm not asking him to say the US is perfect. But it would be nice if he could admit that there is a tremendous amount of good in our history. Has any other nation done as much as the United States to lift up the lives of the poor, both here and abroad? To embrace civil rights for all? Again, we're not perfect--but as Elias tells it, Uncle Sam is just some absentee father who would rather drink his paychecks and never come home and leave mom to raise the kids alone. And if he does come home, he's drunk and beats everyone mercilessly.
I don't see it that way, and will not waste more than a few hours on a book like this--not when there are more good books than I could read in ten lifetimes. Why bother with such neo-Marxist cynicism?
In Elias' defense, the title DOES indicate what is coming.
December 14, 2017
(Audiobook) An interesting take on the "American Pastime." Elias discusses the history of baseball but not just from a purely sports perspective. The history of baseball and American politics are intertwined, both on the domestic and foreign policy front. Where most nowadays might associate baseball more with a calmer, peaceful game (think George Carlin's famous routine comparing baseball to football), but that has not always been the case. Even today, baseball is very much a symbol of American actions, and it can be as warlike as any other sport. This work is probably not going to be popular with some, especially on the right, as it take a sharply critical look at baseball and the ills associated with its actions, especially the way it is used as part of US government policy. It is informative and Elias does present a compelling case, even if it not one that MLB will appreciate. The audiobook is engaging. For a student of US policy and sports, this work is an intriguing mix that might be worth the read.
May 19, 2015
Horrible politics, good research. The Author tries to hard to bend the evidence to his left wing views. Tons of fun facts here though.
Sir Thomas Lipton became a baseball fan tried to introduce the game on his tea plantations. Abraham Lincoln missed his vote as a republican presidential candidate to take his at bat, Eisenhower played semi-pro ball which could of jeopardized his west-point scholarship and in 1962 Kennedy once stood up the Laos Ambassador to see the Washington Senator's on Openning Day. Nixon advocated a true world series with teams in Havana and Mexico City in the 1950s. This dream was partially realized by the World Baseball Classic. The author's best critical writing is indeed on the WBC which does likely need to be changed from its current pro-MLB format to better serve the spread of the game.
Sir Thomas Lipton became a baseball fan tried to introduce the game on his tea plantations. Abraham Lincoln missed his vote as a republican presidential candidate to take his at bat, Eisenhower played semi-pro ball which could of jeopardized his west-point scholarship and in 1962 Kennedy once stood up the Laos Ambassador to see the Washington Senator's on Openning Day. Nixon advocated a true world series with teams in Havana and Mexico City in the 1950s. This dream was partially realized by the World Baseball Classic. The author's best critical writing is indeed on the WBC which does likely need to be changed from its current pro-MLB format to better serve the spread of the game.
March 21, 2012
A fascinating book that gives a much needed look at the global politics of baseball. At times it gets a little repetitive and a few didactic moments where the author breaks out of his "neutral" tone, but overall a must read for any baseball scholar or fan.
June 8, 2012
Link+ due 6/12/12
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews