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Major League Rebels: Baseball Battles Over Workers' Rights and American Empire
A captivating history of the baseball reformers and revolutionaries who challenged their sport and society--and in turn helped change America.
Athletes have often used their platform to respond to and protest injustices, from Muhammad Ali and Colin Kaepernick to Billie Jean King and Megan Rapinoe. Compared to their counterparts, baseball players have often been more cautious about speaking out on controversial issues; but throughout the sport's history, there have been many players who were willing to stand up and fight for what was right.
In Major League Rebels: Baseball Battles over Workers' Rights and American Empire, Robert Elias and Peter Dreier reveal a little-known yet important history of rebellion among professional ballplayers. These reformers took inspiration from the country's dissenters and progressive movements, speaking and acting against abuses within their profession and their country. Elias and Dreier profile the courageous players who demanded better working conditions, battled against corporate power, and challenged America's unjust wars, imperialism, and foreign policies, resisting the brash patriotism that many link with the "national pastime."
American history can be seen as an ongoing battle over wealth and income inequality, corporate power versus workers' rights, what it means to be a "patriotic" American, and the role of the United States outside its borders. For over 100 years, baseball activists have challenged the status quo, contributing to the kind of dissent that creates a more humane society. Major League Rebels tells their inspiring stories.
Athletes have often used their platform to respond to and protest injustices, from Muhammad Ali and Colin Kaepernick to Billie Jean King and Megan Rapinoe. Compared to their counterparts, baseball players have often been more cautious about speaking out on controversial issues; but throughout the sport's history, there have been many players who were willing to stand up and fight for what was right.
In Major League Rebels: Baseball Battles over Workers' Rights and American Empire, Robert Elias and Peter Dreier reveal a little-known yet important history of rebellion among professional ballplayers. These reformers took inspiration from the country's dissenters and progressive movements, speaking and acting against abuses within their profession and their country. Elias and Dreier profile the courageous players who demanded better working conditions, battled against corporate power, and challenged America's unjust wars, imperialism, and foreign policies, resisting the brash patriotism that many link with the "national pastime."
American history can be seen as an ongoing battle over wealth and income inequality, corporate power versus workers' rights, what it means to be a "patriotic" American, and the role of the United States outside its borders. For over 100 years, baseball activists have challenged the status quo, contributing to the kind of dissent that creates a more humane society. Major League Rebels tells their inspiring stories.
376 pages, Hardcover
Published April 13, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 7, 2022
Great book! Must read for anyone who is a history buff / Baseball buff.
Cant wait to read Baseball Rebels.
Cant wait to read Baseball Rebels.
December 20, 2022
amazing book that combines my two biggest passions- leftist politics and baseball. its an engaging rich history of professional baseball thru the lens of workers rights and protesting American Empire. the book enriches my awareness as a baseball fan and forces me to confront the horrific labor practices of the MLB and their role in perpetuating American capitalism and imperialism
my favorite sections:
-in the 1880s there was a worker owned baseball league with the first ever player's union that was bought, overthrown, and sabotaged by the capitalst owners of the National League
-in the 1940s there was a Mexican millionaire named Jorge Pasqual who threatened the MLB's monopoly by trying to buy up all the best players for the Mexican League. US and Mexican governments had to get involved the MLB was like about to send in troops jk
-profiles on socialist baseball players like Bill Lee, Jim Bouton, and Sean Doolittle were really interesting as well as on anti-imperialist players like Roberto Clemente and Carlos Delgado
the book makes it clear the extent to how much exploitment is happening in all levels of professional baseball down to the sweatshops that manufacture the baseballs themselves to the stadium employees to the Latino players barred from entering the MLB Draft and the Minor Leaguers only making poverty level wages. the exploitment is grotesque especially since its the unecessary result of the policies of greedy billionaires who only need a pay a few million dollars a season to take adeqaute care of their minor league workforce, but won't even do that. all the exploitment is easily preventable but the owners of the MLB are greedy shmucks whose monopoly over professional baseball has been supported by the US government for 100 years
my favorite sections:
-in the 1880s there was a worker owned baseball league with the first ever player's union that was bought, overthrown, and sabotaged by the capitalst owners of the National League
-in the 1940s there was a Mexican millionaire named Jorge Pasqual who threatened the MLB's monopoly by trying to buy up all the best players for the Mexican League. US and Mexican governments had to get involved the MLB was like about to send in troops jk
-profiles on socialist baseball players like Bill Lee, Jim Bouton, and Sean Doolittle were really interesting as well as on anti-imperialist players like Roberto Clemente and Carlos Delgado
the book makes it clear the extent to how much exploitment is happening in all levels of professional baseball down to the sweatshops that manufacture the baseballs themselves to the stadium employees to the Latino players barred from entering the MLB Draft and the Minor Leaguers only making poverty level wages. the exploitment is grotesque especially since its the unecessary result of the policies of greedy billionaires who only need a pay a few million dollars a season to take adeqaute care of their minor league workforce, but won't even do that. all the exploitment is easily preventable but the owners of the MLB are greedy shmucks whose monopoly over professional baseball has been supported by the US government for 100 years
June 6, 2024
Nice summation of individuals who've challenged the starkly conservative bent of corporate MLB. I have to admit I'm getting a little tired of this format of political book that just does minichapters detailing the history of a person's struggles, instead of a harder, more incisive analysis; this book does end with a more analytical roundup, at least.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews