BASEBALL HISTORY IN NINE LINKS

Nineteen days from today, Major League Baseball will finally (finally!) be back in full swing. This, of course, is a classic “good news, bad news” situation: The good news is that we’re less than three weeks away from the triumphant return of the national pastime. The bad news is that we have to wait almost three more weeks for the triumphant return of the national pastime.

In order to help pass the time between today and Opening Day, I’ve assembled a collection of nine links to sites that blend a love of baseball with an appreciation for days gone by. From cool photos to great books, and from the 19th century to the 1970s, the list that follows was put together to celebrate the glorious (and occasionally quirky) past of this glorious (and often quirky) game:

The First Nine

1. LIFE‘s Best Baseball Photos — Once upon a time in the United States, the premiere source for photographs of American life was LIFE magazine. Though the print version of the magazine no longer exists, many of its amazing photos are preserved on the Internet. This section of the LIFE website features what its editors consider to be 19 best baseball photos taken for the magazine from the late 1940s through the early 1970s.

2. Esquire’s 20 Best Books About Baseball — What LIFE once was to photography, Esquire was to writing. Though this list was not limited to works that appeared within the magazine’s fabled pages, having Esquire‘s virtual seal of approval on this Top 20 attests to the quality of both the stories and the storytellers.

3. The History of Major League Baseball — The “official” history of the game, as curated by the fine folks at Major League Baseball. Purists may find fault with the decision to title this history of baseball “From Doubleday to the Present Day” — but  let’s be honest, if it didn’t spark discussion and provoke some pushback, it wouldn’t feel like baseball, now would it?

4. This Great Game — Here’s how the FAQ of This Great Game describes the site:  “This Great Game is a comprehensive and mostly oral history of major league baseball from 1900 to the present. The heart of the site is the Yearly Reader section, which represents every year in modern major league history by including a central oral summary, final standings, … interviews with players who bore witness or took part in baseball’s memorable moments, and … an oral and statistical overview of the year’s best hitters and pitchers.”

5. 19th Century Base Ball — Long before baseball was a multi-billion dollar industry, base ball (yes, two words) was a “crude and humble” game that was still evolving from a variety of bat-and-ball games (such as cricket, rounders, and the wonderfully German schlagball). This site features the rules, teams, leagues, and players who were present in the infancy of this great sport.

6. Dressed to the Nines — Ever wonder what Newark’s road uniforms looked like during the 1915 Federal League season (and let’s be honest, who here hasn’t wondered about that)? Turn your speculation into knowledge at Dressed to the Nines, a detailed database of the uniforms worn by players in the American, National, and Federal leagues from 1900 through the 2013 season.

7. Negro League Baseball — Though baseball on the “other side” of the color line is often commonly referred to today as one “Negro League,” the truth is that eight separate organized leagues existed, with the first two forming in 1920 and the last surviving one not ceasing operation until 1960. This site offers a wealth of information on the leagues, teams, and players of this sadly oft-overlooked part of baseball history.

8. Big Hair & Plastic Grass — This site is maintained by Dan Epstein, who authored a book of the same name (subtitled A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s) that was released in 2010. The site is updated intermittently, but a cruise through the archives should bring joy to anyone who has a soft spot for the days of dapper duds and  daunting ‘dos.

9. Dock Ellis’s LSD No-Hitter Video — If ever a memory deserved to be animated, this is the one. Watch and enjoy.

Extra Innings

While compiling this list, I came across many more than nine excellent sites. I hope to have an “extra innnings” post (with highlights from the sites that didn’t make the first cut) ready to go by early next week. If you know of a site that should be here but isn’t, please let me know and I’ll add it to the follow-up post.