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A History of Badger Baseball: The Rise and Fall of America’s Pastime at the University of Wisconsin

Amazon.com Price:  $26.46 (as of 03/05/2019 03:42 PST- Details)

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Description

For more than a century, the University of Wisconsin fielded baseball teams. This comprehensive history combines colorful stories from the archives, interviews with former players and coaches, a wealth of historic photographs, and the statistics beloved by fans of the game. The earliest intercollegiate varsity sport at Wisconsin, the baseball team was once founded in 1870, not up to a decade after the start of the Civil War. It dominated its first league, made an unprecedented go back and forth to Japan in 1909, survived Wisconsin’s chilly spring weather, two world wars, and perennial budget crises, producing one of the most finest players in Big Ten history―and quite a lot of major leaguers. Fan traditions included torchlight parades, kazoos, and the student band playing “A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight” as early as 1901.

There is painful history here, too. African Americans played on Wisconsin’s first Big Ten championship team in 1902, including team captain Julian Ware, but there were none on the team between 1904 and 1960. Heartbreaking to many fans was once the 1991 decision to discontinue baseball as a varsity sport on the university. These days, Wisconsin is the one member of the Big Ten conference with out a men’s baseball team.

Appendixes provide details of team records and coaches, All Big Ten and All American selections, Badgers in the major leagues, and Badgers in the amateur free-agent draft.

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