Table of Contents

Preface      1
Prologue      5

1. Beginnings      7
2. Jim Joins the Club (1866–1871)      11
3. Middletown Mansfields (1872)      27
4. Boston Red Stockings (1873)      33
5. The Red Stockings in Great Britain (1874)      40
6. The Tools of Ignorance (1875)      51
7. Boston Red Caps (1876–1878)      60
8. Providence Grays (1879)      74
9. Return to the Boston Red Caps (1880)      83
10. Buffalo Bisons (1881–1883)      90
11. John O’Rourke Joins the Mets (1883)      106
12. National League Batting Champion (1884)      108
13. New York Giants (1885–1887)      117
14. O’Rourke at Yale Law School (1885–1887)      124
15. The Brotherhood (1886–1887)      128
16. The Color Line (1887)      138
17. Orations (1888)      141
18. The Giants Win the Pennant (1888)      145
19. The Baseball War (1889)      152
20. The World’s Series (1889)      162
21. Players’ League Giants (1890)      169
22. Return to National League Giants (1891–1892)      187
23. Washington Senators (1893)      191
24. National League Umpire (1894)      195
25. Bridgeport Victors (1895–1897)      203
26. New Home for the Bridgeports (1898–1900)      215
27. Defending the Minor Leagues (1900–1903)      220
28. The Bridgeport Orators (1903–1907)      231
29. The NAPBL (1907)      237
30. Hanging Up the Glove (1908–1910)      241
31. Baseball’s Elder Statesman (1911–1913)      248
32. The New England Baseball War (1913–1919)      253
33. The Baseball Wars: A Look Back      271
34. Epilogue      273

Appendix A: Jim O’Rourke’s Professional Statistics      277
Appendix B: Evolution of the Rules of Baseball      279
Appendix C: The Bat      295
Appendix D: The Ball      296
Notes      300
Bibliography      325
Index      331