But Didn't We Have Fun?

I first heard about Peter Morris because he was one of America’s preeminent Scrabble players. Now he has achieved an even greater distinction: one of America’s preeminent baseball historians. But Didn’t We Have Fun? is exhaustively researched and artfully written—an invaluable contribution to the early history of our sport and our country. -- Stefan Fatsis, author of Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players and Wild
If you think baseball’s rich history begins with the American League in 1901, or with the National League in 1876, or even with the National Association in 1871, think again. Thanks to Peter Morris, now we know that the game’s pioneer days—the nearly four decades prior to the first professional ‘league’—might have been the richest of them all. -- Rob Neyer
Peter Morris takes us on a fascinating and highly entertaining journey through the earliest—the very earliest—days of our National Pastime. To read this book is to see Baseball emerging from its womb and blinking its eyes and stretching its arms as it begins to take shape and through trial and error grows into its remarkable and compelling existence. -- Donald Honig
Abner Doubleday just struck out. If you ever wondered where baseball came from—really came from—this story is for you. It’s the real story of how America’s game is much more about America than it is about a game. Entertaining and informative, I think Morris is headed for another medal. -- Will Carroll
In this title, which is sure to be popular, prolific baseball historian Morris engagingly describes the poorly appreciated early years of the game as it evolved to adopt a consistent set of rules. The well-known but much-misunderstood contributions of the New York Knickerbocker Club are reviewed fully, together with the fascinating depictions of the development of umpiring, professionalism, and sportsmanship. A fine addition to all collections. * Library Journal *
Morris, a baseball scholar and historian, shows us around the ancient, pre-professional era of baseball with charming familiarity and dense, nuanced detail. -- Abe Lebovic * am New York *
Entertaining and informative. -- Jonathan Yardley * The Review of Higher Education *
Morris is very clear: The pioneers did have fun. * Book Digest *
An entertaining, enlightening journey. For fans and non-fans alike, Morris’s book serves as an interesting window into the leisure culture of the nation leading up to and following directly after the Civil War. -- Wilson McBee * Popmatters *
Morris’s study of baseball’s evolution during its pre-professional years is a model of careful scholarship, use of original sources, and elegant writing. * CHOICE *
As the pages turn, professional baseball comes together before our eyes, and a bunch of diverse tributaries of proto-baseball flow, year by year, into the mighty, formalized, commercial river that we know today as the National Pastime. -- Ted Anthony * Associated Press *
Dedicated statistics geeks will revel in the seemingly inexhaustible supply of arcane facts and figures…. A useful reference for diehard baseball historians. * Kirkus *
The text is an intriguing study for students of baseball history curious about how aspects of the game developed. * Publishers Weekly *
Concise, clear, and colorful, this book is a delight to mind and spirit. * The Boston Sunday Globe *
[T]horoughly researched, entirely engaging…Morris achieves his main purpose, and more. He traces the game's westward advance-often along canal and railroad routes-and its evolution toward competitiveness and standardized rules. As he does, he takes the reader deep into the culture of 19th-century America, as revolutions in transportation and mass communication pushed everything, even casual pastimes, toward professionalization and commercialization. * Providence Journal *
Morris's love of baseball is palpable throughout the book…. His enthusiasm adds to the charm with which he tells his story. * The Historian *
[Scholars] may find that Porter's challenging, almost taunting tone inspires them to express their own beliefs and conclusions more forcefully, in keeping or at odds with what they will read in his essay. * Journal of Genocide Research *