In 1882, a scrappy new baseball league backed by brewers, distillers, and saloon owners set out to challenge the staid National League. Edward Achorn tells the story of Chris Von der Ahe, a German immigrant beer garden owner who knew nothing about baseball. He bought a team anyway, just to sell more beer.
Sneered at as the “Beer and Whiskey Circuit,” the American Association drew huge, rowdy crowds with Sunday games, ballpark beer, and 25-cent tickets. It came down to a wire-to-wire 1883 pennant race between St. Louis and Philadelphia. Along the way, Achorn traces the origins of the Louisville Slugger and the Louisville Mutuals ballclub.
Published 2013
336 pages
$11.10