This collection of fresh essays seeks to examine the intersection of baseball and social class, pointing to the conclusion that America's game, infused from its origins with a democratic mythos and founded on high-minded principles of meritocracy, is nonetheless fraught with problematic class contradictions. Each essayist has explored how class standing has influenced some aspect of the game as experienced by those who play it, those who watch it, those who write about it, and those who market it. The topic of class is an amorphous one and in tying it to baseball the contributors have considered matters of race, education, locality, integration, assimilation, and cultural standing. These elements are crucial to understanding how baseball creates, preserves, reinforces and occasionally assails class divisions among those who watch, play, and own the game.

The Conference on Baseball in Literature and American Culture has consistently produced a strong body of scholarship since its inception in 1995. The essays presented at the 2006 and 2007 conferences are published in this work.The topics covered include early baseball journalism; sportswriting as mythology; the Henry Wiggen baseball novels; fictionalized baseball broadcasts; racism, religious fundamentalism, patriotism and Marxism; Philip Roth's ""The Great American Novel""; Zane Grey; masculinity in Richard Greenberg's ""Take Me Out""; Willie Mays; Northern Exposure; Salvadore Dali and surrealism; baseball's economic trendsetters; Pete Rose; baseball literature in the classroom; and Jim Bunning's perfect game, among others.