From the introduction of the reserve clause in 1879 to the lockout and new basic agreement of 1990, baseball players have been engaged in one of the longest and most colorful labor struggles in our nation's history. "The Imperfect Diamond" tells the stories of the players and their opponents, the powerful owners: how John Montgomery Ward led the Players League Rebellion of 1890; the rise and fall of David Fultz and the Baseball Players Fraternity (1912-18); the iron-fisted regime of Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis; the case of "Danny Gardella vs. Happy Chandler" and the blacklisting of the players who jumped to the Mexican League; the founding of the Baseball Players Association in 1953 and the tempestuous but triumphant reign of Marvin Miller; the struggles of Curt Flood, Andy Messersmith, and Dave McNally, and how they brought about the demise of the reserve clause; the unprecedented midseason strike of 1981 and the collusion cases of the late 1980s. In the epilogue for this Bison Books edition, Lee Lowenfish guides the reader through the turbulent 1990s and first decade of the twenty-first century, covering expansion teams, the monumental 1994 strike, and performance-enhancing drugs. Listed by the Society of American Baseball Research as one of the fifty essential baseball books, "The Imperfect Diamond" will stand for years to come as the source for the real story behind America's national pastime.

"This is a baseball book, but whether Creamer intended it or not, it's much, much more."-Sports Illustrated. " Creamer] recalls this momentous year in baseball and world history. He reprises Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak, Ted Williams's .406 batting average, Hank Greenberg and the draft, the furious Dodgers-Cardinals pennant fight, and the ensuing World Series. All this is portrayed against the looming U.S. entry into World War II."-Library Journal. Robert W. Creamer, one of the best and most perceptive writers on baseball, remembers the baseball-and other matters-of 1941 in a tribute to the game that is also part memoir. Creamer was a long-time writer and editor at Sports Illustrated. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including the following Bison Books: Stengel: His Life and Times, Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat, Jocko, and The Quality of Courage.

The ultimate umpire relives the good old days on the diamond. Jocko Conlan was an outfielder for the Chicago White Sox when, one afternoon in 1936, he became an umpire. Thus began a career lasting more than a quarter century, most of it with the National League. Through the skillful writing of Robert W. Creamer, the ebullient Jocko makes his many years of umpiring so real that the reader can smell the peanuts and hear the swat of the ball. "Jocko" is packed with funny stories about famous players and the beleaguered umpire's lot.

For more than fifty years Red Barber was the voice of baseball. The game was broadcast sporadically until the late 1930s, when Barber burst into prominence by bringing it home to radio listeners, play by play. More than half a century later, he could still be heard, broadcasting over National Public Radio from his retirement home in Tallahassee. Announcing for the Brooklyn Dodgers and later for the New York Yankees, he became a legend long before his death in 1992. Red's story reveals the growth and changes in baseball over the years, the demands of sportscasting, and the difference between radio and television reporting. Here is Red giving major play-by-plays of his own life and career with characteristic wit and integrity.

One of the most endearing of American heroes, Casey Stengel guided the New York Yankees to ten pennants in twelve seasons. Here is the brilliant manager stripped naked--the person underneath all the clowning, mugging, and double-talking.

Robert Creamer shows us Casey at twenty-two, famous from his very first day in the big leagues. We see Casey's playing career fall apart as he is traded, shunted to last-place teams, hampered by injuries, considered finished--until he bats a glorious home run in the 1923 World Series. Here are Casey's managing successes and failures--dismissed by the Yankees, he returns to the limelight with his new and inept New York Mets, the team he single-handedly lifts into the nation's consciousness.

"I'm a man that's been up and down," Casey said in a serious moment. Certainly his knack for bouncing back made him a legend in our national pastime. Here are the stories and gags, the Stengelian style, the full dimensions of the man.

As a man who played baseball brilliantly despite near-constant pain from a succession of injuries, Mickey Mantle knew something about courage. In The Quality of Courage we find Mickey's opinion on some of his widely recognized associates, including Jackie Robinson, Roger Maris, Casey Stengel, Joe DiMaggio, and Ted Williams. Here also are Mantle's opinions on some lesser known but equally meritorious candidates: war hero and pitcher Lou Brissie and umpire Bill Grieve. And then there is his opinion of those with whom he probably felt the strongest bond: players such as Roy Campanella, Don Zimmer, and Jimmy Piersall, whose principal asset of physical excellence was suddenly taken from them.

Much is made of the need for role models in our society, but it is perhaps as instructive to learn which qualities the role models themselves find worthy of respect and emulation. Mickey gives us his list in his characteristic straightforward style, leavened with humor and a wealth of good stories.