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Scott Simkus On Strange World Of "Outsider Baseball"

Major League Baseball is the toughest level of the sport, with the world’s best players and highest quality of play. But contrary to what modern fans used to on-demand scores and video might think, it wasn’t always this way.

Baseball researcher and author – and erstwhile copier salesman — Scott Simkus makes the case in his new book Outsider Baseball: The Weird World Of Hardball on the Fringe 1876-1950 that baseball was a different world in the sprawling early days of the sport.

There were foreign barnstorming teams, clowns, bearded cults, and, pre-Jackie Robinson, integrated play.

Scott Simkus’ book is published by Chicago Review Press.

A lifelong resident of the Capital Region, Ian joined WAMC in late 2008 and became news director in 2013. He began working on Morning Edition and has produced The Capitol Connection, Congressional Corner, and several other WAMC programs. Ian can also be heard as the host of the WAMC News Podcast and on The Roundtable and various newscasts. Ian holds a BA in English and journalism and an MA in English, both from the University at Albany, where he has taught journalism since 2013.
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