America's National Game is a book by Albert Spalding, published in 1911 detailing the early history of the sport of baseball. Much of the story is told first-hand, since Spalding had been involved in the game, first as a player and later an administrator, since the 1850s. In addition to his personal recollections, he had access to the records of Henry Chadwick, the game's first statistician and archivist. Spalding was, however, known to aggrandise his role in the major moments in baseball's history.
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“Is America a land of God where saints abide for ever? Where golden fields spread fair and broad, where flows the crystal river? Certainly not flush with saints, and a good thing, too, for the saints sent buzzing into man’s ken now are but poor- mouthed ecclesiastical film stars and cliché-shouting publicity agents.
Their little knowledge bringing them nearer to their ignorance,
Ignorance bringing them nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to God.”
—Sean O’Casey (1884–1964)
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