Robert Elias

MY LATEST BOOK

From Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War to George W. Bush and the Iraq War, we see baseball’s role in developing the American Empire, first at home and then beyond our shores. From Albert Spalding and baseball’s first World Tour to Bud Selig and the World Baseball Classic, we see the globalization of America’s national pastime, and baseball’s missionary role in spreading the American dream. To maintain itself as the American national game, however, baseball has pursued a “national pastime tradeoff,” which has brought benefits but has come with a high price for the game. Is it still worth pursuing? The Empire Strikes Out addresses that question while providing a chronicle of baseball’s own foreign policy and the sport’s involvement in U.S. diplomatic and military history.

The Empire Strikes Out is a rare and wonderful combination of splendid scholarship and lively writing. Robert Elias’ affection for baseball illuminates its pages, even when he is unearthing episodes of organized baseball’s racism, jingoism, unbridled militarism and insensitivity to other cultures. Simultaneously, and gracefully, the book describes the development of baseball and its impact overseas as a sort of quasi instrument of American foreign policy. The recent internationalization of major-league rosters makes the book particularly timely. A truly fine work. Highly recommended.
- Roger Kahn, author of The Boys of Summer, The Era, Memories of Summer, October Men, Joe and Marilyn