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Cricket in America achieved its greatest acclaim, most extensive organization and highest level of competition in Philadelphia in the mid-19th century. The city took upon itself the burden of representing the entire U.S. during the sport's emerging international popularity.
It was a story of amazing successes, abysmal failures and engaging personalities--like John B. King, revered to this day as one of the all-time greatest players--and eventual decline and demise. This meticulously researched history examines the origin and rise of a sport's legacy that, even in its demise, would endure as a lost vision of America's sporting destiny.
List of contents
Table of ContentsPrologue
A Note on Technical Cricket Terms
One. New York/Philadelphia Cricket and the Ball-Playing Spring of the 1840s
Two. The Rise of Philadelphia Cricket and the Uncertainty of a Sporting Identity
Three. Post-Civil War Cricket and Baseball and the Divergence of a Sporting Culture
Four. Guardian of a Sporting Alternative
Five. Young America, the Hargreaves Family, and the Assertion of Nativism
Six. Intern to Internationalism
Seven. Clubs, Players, and the Flowering of Late 19th-Century Philadelphia Cricket
Eight. Ambivalence of Destiny
Nine. "A Civilization of Its Own": The World of Late 19th-Century Philadelphia Cricket
Ten. Visions of Viability: The England Tour of 1903
Eleven. Twilight of Internationalism and the Drift from Nativism
Twelve. Decline, Denial, and Dreams: The Passing of Philadelphia Cricket
Epilogue
Appendix: Casual Olympian
Chapter Notes
Bibliographic Essay
Index
About the author
Freelance writer and researcher Tom Melville lives in Wisconsin.
