Warm Summers and Cold Winters

Nyhet

How Baseball Survived the Korean War

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

AvSteven P. Gietschier,author) Gietschier, Steven P. (Historian,Steven P Gietschier

429 kr

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A fascinating examination of the Korean War years and its impact on Major League BaseballAlthough baseball’s history in the immediate post-World War II years has sometimes been characterized as a “golden age,” such was not the case. By the time North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel in June 1950, Organized Baseball was still struggling to re-integrate returning veterans into its labor force, fight off an attempt at unionization, and deal with a competing major league south of the border. In Warm Summers and Cold Winters, historian Steven P. Gietschier carefully examines four baseball seasons—1950, 1951, 1952, and 1953—set against the background of Cold War America and the Korean War, a “forgotten war” that is often overlooked and underappreciated for its impact on US and baseball history. These four seasons saw exciting pennant races, the success of the Philadelphia Phillies’ Whiz Kids in 1950; the “shot heard ‘round the world” in 1951; the debuts of Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle; and the tenure of Bill Veeck as owner of the St. Louis Browns. On the warfront, the hostilities in Korea stand as the first time the United States tried to fight a war with one hand tied behind its back, attempting to fight a limited war without disrupting civilian life. Simultaneously, the United States’ limited military commitment meant that the war imposed peculiar challenges and uneven pressures upon individuals and institutions throughout American society, including Organized Baseball.Providing rare insight into how baseball responded to the unique situation the country found itself in during the Korean War years, Warm Summers and Cold Winters will be of interest to baseball and military historians alike.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2026-06-25
Mått152 x 229 x 28 mm
Vikt503 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor288
FörlagBloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN9781538193884

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Steven P. Gietschier is a historian, author, and archival consultant for The Sporting News. He was a public historian at The Ohio Historical Society, university curator and professor of history at Lindenwood University, and professional archivist and corporate historian for The Sporting News. He is a member of the North American Society for Sport History and the Society for American Baseball Research and is on the editorial board of NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture. He is the author of Baseball: The Turbulent Midcentury Years. Gietschier lives in the Greater St. Louis region.

Acknowledgements Prologue: Cold War in Europe, Oct-Dec 1949Chapter 1: Cold War in Asia, Jan-Mar 1950Chapter 2: A Divided Korea, Apr-Jun 1950Chapter 3: The Police Action and the Pennant Race, Jul-Sep 1950Chapter 4: The Whiz Kids Come Up Short, Oct-Dec 1950Chapter 5: Facing Manpower Shortages, Jan-Mar 1951 Chapter 6: Truman Fires MacArthur, Apr-Jun 1951 Chapter 7: Frick Replaces Chandler, Jul-Sep 1951Chapter 8: “The Giants Win the Pennant!” Oct-Dec 1951 Chapter 9: Salaries, Ticket Prices, and Integration, Jan-Mar 1952 Chapter 10: Steelworkers on Strike, Apr-Jun 1952 Chapter 11: “We Want Ike,” Jul-Sep 1952 Chapter 12: Four Straight for the Yankees, Oct-Dec 1952 Chapter 13: The Braves Move to Milwaukee, Jan-Mar 1953 Chapter 14: The “Game of the Week,” Apr-Jun 1953Epilogue: Armistice at Last, Jul-Sep 1953 Notes Bibliography Index About the Author

Given the rich body of literature on professional baseball and America’s involvement in armed conflicts, both foreign and civil, it is surprising that scant attention has been paid to the game’s connections to the Korean conflict--that is, until now. Exhaustively researched and beautifully written, Steven Geitschier’s exploration of baseball in the context of the Korean War is a much-needed contribution not just to the history of the sport, but to the wider history of the Cold War. It is also a page turner.