The comprehensive story of baseball in Philadelphia and the surrounding area, from the early formation of the National Association, through the shipyard leagues and Little League, all the way to the major league Athletics and Phillies. Includes all the articles found in the summer 2013 print issue of The National Pastime (vol. 43) as well as all the articles included in the unabridged digital issue. From The National Pastime, Volume 43, Print Edition Prelude to the Formation of the American Association by Brock Helander The Jefferson Street Ball Parks (1864-91) by Jerrold Casway Philadelphia-October 1866: The Center of the Baseball Universe by Jeff Laing Did New York Steal the Championship of 1867 from Philadelphia? by Richard Hershberger Mundell's Solar Tips: The Intersection of Amateur, Trade, Professional, and Major League Baseball in Philadelphia by Paul Browne Tuck Turner's Magical 1894 Phillies Season, Or, Whatever Happen to Tuck? by Peter Mancuso Columbia Park II: Philadelphia American League (1901-08) by Ron Selter The Long Way To Philadelphia: The Strange Route Leading Rube Waddell To Join The Philadelphia Athletics by Joe Niese The Strangest Month in the Strange Career of Rube Waddell by Steven A. King Tim Hurst's Last Call by Rick Huhn The Delaware River Shipbuilding League, 1918 by Jim Leeke Harry Passon: Philadelphia Baseball Entrepreneur by Rebecca T. Alpert The Real Jimmie Foxx by Bill Jenkinson The Day Ted Williams Became the Last .400 Hitter in Baseball by Bill Nowlin The Philadelphia Phillies' 1943 Spring Training by James D. Szalontai Eddie Waitkus and The Natural: What Is Assumption? What Is Fact? by Rob Edelman Phillies Bonus Babies, 1953-57 by Sam Zygner Tom Qualters's Amazing 1954 Season for the Philadelphia Phillies by Stephen D. Boren MD, FACEP 1964 Phillies, Fans, and Media by Andrew Milner Dick Allen's Second Act by Mitch Nathanson Fan Perspectives on Race and Baseball in the City of Brotherly Love by Jen McGovern From The National Pastime, Volume 43, Unabridged Digital Edition Connie Mack by Doug Skipper The Early Years of Philadelphia Baseball by Rich Westcott Philadelphia Phillies by Rich Westcott William T. Stecher: Ignominious Record Holder, Community Servant by Jonathan Frankel Baseball's Deadliest Disaster: "Black Saturday" in Philadelphia by Robert D. Warrington The Great Philadelphia Ballpark Riot by Robert D. Warrington Dropping the Pitch by Barbara Gregorich Connie Mack's Second Great Athletics Team by Bryan Soderholm-Difatte The 1929 Mack Attack by Jimmy Keenan Black Tuesday by David Jordan A Phil Named Syl by Matthew Clifford Connie Mack and Wartime Baseball-1943 by Norman Macht The Sultan of Slap and Run by Francis Kinlaw Kids Snatch a Flag by Francis Kinlaw A Final Season: The 1954 Philadelphia Athletics Finish Eighth, 60 Games Back by Thomas E. Van Hyning Handy in a Pinch: Dave Philley by Cort Vitty Philadelphia Area Teams that Have Participated in the Little League World Series by Mark Kanter Mitch Williams' Amazing Month: Eight Wins Out of the Bullpen by Bob Bogart Pitch Perfect: Reexamining Brad Lidge's Performance in 2008 Using Win Probabilities Added and Leverage Index by Jim Sweetman Philadelphia's Other Hall of Famers by Steven Glassman Contributors

Jerrold Casway’s fascinating biography of legendary baseball player Ed Delahanty (1867–1903) offers a compelling examination of the first “King of Swatsville’s” life and career, including the enigma surrounding his tragic and untimely death. Through Delahanty’s story, Casway traces the evolving character of major league baseball and its effect on the lives and ambitions of its athletes. Delahanty’s career spanned the last decades of the nineteenth century during a time when the sons of post-famine Irish refugees dominated the sport and changed the playing style of America’s national pastime. In this “Emerald Age” of baseball, Irish-American players comprised 30–50 percent of all players, managers, and team captains. Baseball for Delahanty and other young Irishmen was a ticket out of poverty and into a life of fame and fortune. The allure and promise of celebrity and wealth, however, were disastrous for Delahanty. He found himself enmeshed in desperate contract dealings and a gambling addiction that drove him to alcohol abuse. The owner of the fourth highest lifetime batting average, Delahanty mysteriously disappeared and was found at the bottom of Niagara’s Horseshoe Falls. This rich biography, which relies on previously unavailable family papers and court transcripts, as well as the colorful sports reporting of the period, will appeal to anyone interested in baseball, sports, or Irish history.