Richter’s History and Records of Base Ball, the American Nation’s Chief Sport, originally published in 1914, is the most comprehensive and ambitious among the early books about baseball. “This volume,” Richter writes, “is designed to supply the growing need of a concise, yet complete, record of our National Game” and “to serve this purpose in such a form as to make it valuable, possibly indispensable, as a book of special information, of ready reference, and of general interest to all love’s and students of the great game.”
The book is divided into three parts. Part I covers the origins of baseball, the first professional league, the National and American leagues, the American Association, baseball tours, warring leagues, the World Series, and the minor leagues. Part II includes team and individual performance records through 1914, Richter’s takes on the great pitchers of early baseball, and brief commentary on two classic poems inspired by the game. Part III includes the history and text of the first National Agreement, the development of baseball playing rules, and information on the pioneering players, owners, executives, and writers.

Francis C. Richter was well known in his day as the editor of the Reach guides and as the publisher and editor of The Sporting Life.

Francis C. Richter. Series Editors Gary Mitchem, Marty McGee and Mark Durr
Format: softcover (6 x 8)
Pages: 476
Bibliographic Info: 56 photos, index
Copyright Date: 2005
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1727-8
Imprint: McFarland
Series: The McFarland Historical Baseball Library

Acknowledgments vi
Foreword: Is This Heaven? by Clare Milliner 1
Preface 5
Introduction 9
Part I. My Story 13
1. The Early Years 14
2. The Artist’s Choice 26
3. College, Career and Crash 30
4. Life Interruptus: My Hero’s Journey 43
Part II. Talking ­Old-Time Community 65
Instrument Builders 69
5. Bart Reiter 70
6. Patrick “Doc” Huff 77
7. Pete Ross 84
8. Zachary Hoyt 90
9. Bill Rickard 98
10. William Seeders Mosheim 103
Performers and Teachers 109
11. Rayna Gellert 110
12. David Holt 119
13. James “Sparky” Rucker 129
14. Clare Milliner 140
15. Mac Benford 147
16. Sheila Kay Adams 154
17. Paul Brown 163
18. John McCutcheon 172
Historians and Authors 181
19. Dwight Diller 182
20. Bill Malone 188
21. Dom Flemons 198
22. Tim Brooks 209
Part III. In the Company of Music 227
23. Clifftop 228
24. Why Play ­Old-Time Music? 250
25. How Music Works Magic: A Conversation with Josh Turknett 259
Epilogue: An Invitation to Join the Fun 273
Bibliography 275
Index 277

“One of the best but least-heralded developments in the recent history of baseball literature was the inauguration of the McFarland Historical Baseball Library in 2003”—I>Spitball; “it remains the most ambitious and comprehensive among early baseball books”—Sports Collectors Digest; “invaluable McFarland Historical Baseball Library series”—Edward Achorn, The Providence Journal.