Wexler: Memories from the game’s faded pages

From SABR member Sarah Wexler at The Hardball Times on February 5, 2018:

As I began thumbing through the pages, familiar faces leapt out at me: Duke Snider, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, to name a few. There were game recaps and box scores, news items, cartoons, and human interest stories, ranging in date from about 1958 through 1962.

I was struck by how perfectly this gift suited me. As a baseball fan, and as a historian with a particular interest in midcentury America, it couldn’t have been much better tailored to my interests. Essentially, what my brother had found was a time capsule of baseball of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s — hardly comprehensive or chronological, but highlighting many key events and characters from the era.

In the month that I’ve had the scrapbook, I’ve revisited it several times. It’s very easy to get lost in. Each page is jam-packed with stories from a wild era of a game in transition — one that had finally made its way westward, and one that was about to undergo its first major expansion.

Read the full article here: https://www.fangraphs.com/tht/memories-from-the-games-faded-pages/



Originally published: February 5, 2018. Last Updated: February 5, 2018.