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More Than a Pastime

An Oral History of Baseball Fans

William Freedman author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:McFarland & Co Inc

Published:30th Sep '14

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

More Than a Pastime cover

Basing his claims on more than 130 in-depth interviews with baseball fans from ages 10 to 80, the author arrives at some extraordinary conclusions about the prismatic richness of the fan's experience of baseball and its importance in his or her life. The responses, 40 of which are reproduced in this oral history, suggest three major hypotheses: that how the youthful fan regards the game is a resonant expression of his personality, his family and social situation, and his fundamental needs; that baseball, far more than a pastime or idle entertainment, serves a number of extremely important emotional and developmental functions - moral, social, aesthetic and psychological - in the lives of its younger fans; and that one of baseball's less frequently heralded virtues is its extraordinary richness, its capacity to turn a different face to almost every fan and to satisfy that remarkably wide range of personalities, backgrounds and needs. What these interviews suggest and what the author's introductory sections argue is that to its most ardent young fans, baseball is not only a source of great and lasting pleasure, but an important socialising agent and a vital expression and determinant of character.

unique...excellent"" Choice

""the fans are wise beyond imagining and Freedman distills that wisdom with a loving care for the game"" Sports Collectors Digest

ISBN: 9780786493814

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 372g

263 pages