"Where They Ain't", however, is one of the better baseball books I've read. Ostensibly about the old Baltimore Orioles of the National League in the 1890s, this book is really a micro-history of early baseball, tracing the game forward -- both on and off the field -- through the advent of Babe Ruth. Burt Solomon paints a very convincing picture of those Orioles as the team that had the singlemost impact on the way the game is played today. He chronicles the playing and early mangerial days of John McGraw, Ned Hanlon, Wilbert Robinson and Willie Keeler, and shows how they introduced the aggressive style of play -- the hit-and-run, the double-steal, the drag bunt, the Baltimore chop -- that still wins pennants today.

But more than profiling that now-defunct team, Solomon paints a vivid picture of the economics of the game at large. Playing in ornate wood stadiums, a team would be lucky to draw 5,000 fans (or "cranks", in the parlace of the time) to the grandstands and "bleacheries". The owners fiddled mercilessly with cost-cutting ideas such as contraction, team syndicates, and collusion. Indeed, that these ideas all failed so miserably (forging the birth of the rival American League, a revolution which swallowed its own children so rapidly that within three years you couldn't tell one league from the other) that your eyebrows will leap off your head when you see that today's owners are still using them! Certainly fans of the Minnesota Twins, Montreal Expos, and Baltimore Orioles (we've come full circle) will wince in agony as the old Oriole team was destroyed by league management three times in four years -- by ill-advised co-ownership with the Brooklyn Dodgers; by contraction out of the NL; and then by relocation to New York.

Solomon writes in a rich prose style, and footnotes his research extensively. It must have been fun poring through old newspaper accounts for the colorful game descriptions he ultimately finds. He subtly introduces us to historical changes, such as the three-strike out and the foot-long pitcher's rubber, with a broad "that will never catch on!" wink to the reader. My chief complaints would be that "Where They Ain't" is a slow read -- and one so entrenched in Baltimore geography that it's unfathomable that a map wasn't printed inside the book. I lived in Baltimore for parts of six years and even I frequently got lost in Solomon's directions.

5 of 5 found the following review helpful:

American Social History  Dec 28, 1999
By C. W. Emblom "Bill Emblom"
Baseball hasn't changed much over the past 100 years. Players and owners still wrangle with one another with the latter claiming the former are overpayed. This is more than the story of the Orioles of the 1890's. It is also about the beginning of the success of the Dodgers and Giants and the beginning of the New York Yankees when the Baltimore franchise was moved to New York in 1903 to become the Highlanders. Rich colorful characters such as Willie Keeler, John McGraw, Joe Kelley, Hughie Jennings, and others populate this book when you played with injuries because you were encouraged to "take it like an old Oriole." Baseball historian Fred Lieb wrote a book entitled "The Baltimore Orioles" many years back about this subject, and it is with a great deal of thanks that I express to both him and Burt Solomon, the author of "Where They Ain't" for bringing American social history alive for us to enjoy. There is more to American history than wars, treaties, and presidents. Run, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore and buy this book. You can thank me later. This book is an easy five stars.

4 of 4 found the following review helpful:

It's always been a business  Apr 25, 2000
By Mike Sparks
It's tempting to think that baseball has become a business only in the last 25 years or so. This wonderful book shows that even 100 years ago baseball was all business (frequently in a cutthroat way). Imagine if Steinbrenner or Turner owned several teams and switched the best players back and forth. Sounds crazy, right? That's exactly what "Syndicate Baseball" of the late 1800's was. The Baltimore Orioles and Brooklyn Superbas were owned by the same beer baron. Many of the Orioles best players (including 3 of the big 4) featured in Where They Ain't were transferred to Brooklyn. The same fate befell the Cleveland Spiders when all of their quality players were shipped to St. Louis in 1899. This book is populated by historical baseballers (Keeler, Kelley, Hanlon, McGraw) and scoundrels (the National League owners, especially Andrew Freedman). For the baseball fan who yearns for "the good old days" this is a must read.

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

Excellent. A superb picture of a ruthless era inbig business  Apr 22, 1999
By Ian C. Hunt (ihunt@fas.harvard.edu
This book was a masterful description of baseball's most notorious era. I bought the book, hoping to learn more about the Old Orioles, a legendary team. And I got more than I bargained for. I was thrust into a world of "Syndicate Baseball," where fans and players were ignored and the personal vendettas of the owners dictated the circumstances under which baseball would exist. I would highly recommend this book for any one interested in US history or merely in the history of baseball. Disclaimer- I am a devout Orioles fan and a native of Baltimore City.

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:

Good History of Early Baltimore Baseball  Apr 17, 2007
By Winslow Bunny "Winslow_Bunny"
"Where They Ain't," as baseball fans know, is part of the phrase used by Willie Keeler as an explanation of where he hit the ball. Unfortunately appropriately it describes the Orioles major league team relationship with Baltimore between the end of 1902 and 1953. The book opens and closes with Wee Willie's life, transitioning into the Oriole baseball team that identifies so well with him, not to mention John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson. In all, it is a very good book detailing how, basically, Baltimore got the short end of the stick twice in less than 5 years, once each by the National and American Leagues (an equal opportunity shafting). Solomon tells the story well and brings a closeness of Baltimore to the team and the sense of loss when the team leaves, and it's a book that I would recommend for your baseball library.

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