The publication of this paperback edition of the second volume of my
history of baseball will, I trust, reward the patience of those readers
who have been trying to get a copy of it since the first edition sold out.
Those who expected a long overdue third volume to have appeared
by now and have written me asking about it will, I hope, continue to
be patient.

On checking this book for the purpose of bringing it up to date, I
find that for the most part the changes that were needed involved
playing records, since old records have been broken or matched by
contemporary players, and since by industrious checking statisticians
have discovered discrepancies in old critical records and thus been
able to alter them. I am glad to incorporate such changes in the paper-
back edition of this book and to acknowledge the work of statisticians
and other researchers.

I am also grateful for the appreciative audience this book has found
among journalists, historians, and fans, and for its having been widely
recognized as the second volume of the premier work on the history
of baseball, the basic reference in its field for librarians, speechmakers,
and columnists.

Since the publication of this book sports historians, sociologists, and
physical education specialists have explored the topics treated here in
more detail. "On all great subjects much remains to be said," Macaulay
remarked. But the new information these researchers have uncovered
does not alter the basic description of a significant era in the develop-
ment of America's national game.

As for those few who have cavilled at my work or used parts of it
without crediting me, I can only say with Jonathan Swift, "I never won-
der to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed."

Keene, N. H. H.S.
October 2988

-v-