The Mudville Heritage, originally published in 1971 as The Old Ball
Game, covers the lore and legend of baseball as no other book before or
since. Folklorist Tristram P. Coffin treats baseball as an integral part
of America's epic story. He discusses the legends, proverbs, speech, and
superstitions that have developed out of the game, and then proceeds to
a witty and wicked dissection of the "never-never land" of dime
novelists and what he calls the "hunky-dory" sports writers of the early
to mid-twentieth century.
Baseball lovers will find here a trove of stories and anecdotes about
the national past-time, its stories, legends, and the colorful players
in its history, including Wee Willie Keeler, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Babe
Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and many more.
