Review of "Gathering Crowds"

Any reviewer who obtains review copies knows what it feels like to have a large pile of books waiting for review and the age that some of them may be.  I am certainly one of them and this is one of the older ones that I have finally been able to read.  Here is my review of "Gathering Crowds."

 

Title/Author:

“Gathering Crowds: Catching Baseball Fever in the New Era of Free Agency” by Paul Hensler

Rating: 

3 of 5 stars (good)

Review:

The period between 1975 and 1990 was a very turbulent time for the sport of baseball.  The players were granted freedom to seek employment with new teams after decades of being bound to one club under the reserve clause.  In addition to this, there were labor disputes resulting in player strikes, there was collusion amongst the owners to try to keep salaries down during free agency and there were drug problems.  All of this and more is captured in this all-encompassing book by Paul Hensler.

This opening paragraph says a lot – and that doesn’t even cover all the topics Hensler writes about in the book.  There are also sections on various social issues within the game such as the treatment of female reports and women working in the game, such as female umpires.  There is mention of the first openly gay player and umpire.  There are sections about each commissioner during this period and what issues all three of them – Bowie Kuhn, Peter Ueberroth and A. Bartlett Giamatti – had to face during their tenures.  While admirable, trying to cover so much ground in one book meant each topic was highlighted instead of truly covered deeply.

As a result of that, the audience that would be most interested in the book, fans who enjoyed the game during that time, would most likely already be familiar with most of the material.  Ironically, Hensler writes the book to also make the case of how much the game grew in popularity in both paid attendance and television viewing.  On that avenue, he does succeed and does a fine job illustrating that despite all of the labor issues and other negative publicity the game faced, interest did grow.  It should also be noted that part of this could also be attributed to another aspect Hensler illustrates.  That is despite the fears of owners and commissioners that small market teams could not compete with the larger, richer clubs, several of them enjoyed success and won titles.  These included the Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins and Baltimore Orioles.  I used the Orioles here because Hensler did group them with smaller markets.

Overall, this is a decent book and Hensler covers a lot of ground.  It just may be too much ground as readers who know little or nothing about that time period of baseball may gain more knowledge than more ardent fans. 

I wish to thank Rowman and Littlefield for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Link: Gathering Crowds: Catching Baseball Fever in the New Era of Free Agency: Hensler, Paul: 9781538132005: Amazon.com: Books