British Baseball and the West Ham Club

History of a 1930s Professional Team in East London

Brian Belton author Josh Chetwynd author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:McFarland & Co Inc

Published:29th Dec '06

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

British Baseball and the West Ham Club cover

Few people associate baseball with Great Britain, but for a brief period in the 1930s, America's pastime nearly gained a foothold with the British populace. Though never as popular as the beloved football clubs, or even greyhound races, baseball teams like the West Ham Hammers developed intense local followings, and played some excellent baseball--in 1936, the Hammers defeated the U.S. Olympic team. The outbreak of World War II ended the rising popularity of baseball among Britons, but speculation remains that, under different circumstances, British baseball could have flourished.

This book traces the history of baseball as a popular British sport, concentrating on one particularly successful and notable team, the West Ham Hammers. It places the West Ham club within the historical context of 1930s Great Britain, and covers team management, major players (e.g., Roland Gladu, the "Canadian Babe Ruth"), and the fans, many of whom still cling fondly to faded memories of the club and West Ham Stadium. Eight appendices include team rosters, British baseball rules, and year-by-year records from 1890 to 2005.

“at last we have a detailed account of the brief period in British baseball history...excellent”—Baseball in Wartime.

ISBN: 9780786425945

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 14mm

Weight: 367g

272 pages