A League of His Own tells the remarkable story of A.G. Spalding—the pitcher, mogul, and visionary who shaped baseball and the sporting goods empire.
Albert Goodwill Spalding became the initial star pitcher of the first professional sports association, cofounded baseball’s National League, founded the world’s greatest sporting goods empire, owned the team that became the Chicago Cubs, organized an around-the-world tour to promote baseball, broke the first players union, and crushed three rivals of the National League before retiring to San Diego. A monopolist in true Gilded Age fashion, he sought to create a bicycle trust even as he battled advocates of a baseball trust. A moralist who railed against alcohol and gambling, he sired a child with a long-time mistress. He was a man of many firsts in the fields in which he competed: the highest winning percentage as pitcher, first player to receive a percentage of gate receipts, the first player to openly wear a glove while playing (and, by virtue of his status, to make it acceptable for other players to wear gloves), the captain of the first NL champion, the founder of the first vertically integrated sporting goods firm, the first to build a chain of specialty retail stores, the first leader of the U.S. Olympic movement. This is the first comprehensive biography of Albert Goodwill Spalding’s fascinating life, including his compulsion to put his name on every ball, racquet, discus, bicycle, football, bat, hat, and mask his company produced.
“If Spalding’s story begins modestly in a log cabin in tiny Byron, Illinois, its unfolding will resonate with modern-day readers… A long-overdue accounting of one of baseball’s seminal figures.”
“Stein crafts a very solid biography that contains an impressive analysis of Spalding’s baseball impact with elevated cultural impact, provides a revelatory assessment of the man’s character, utilizes above-average quality research material, and presents the biographical narrative in a meaningful writing style… A League of His Own: A. G. Spalding and the Business of Baseball is certain to generate renewed interest in Spalding’s existential contributions to baseball history during the National League’s 150th anniversary season in 2026.”
“Mark Stein is a gifted storyteller and this tale of A.G. Spalding, in addition to being a most entertaining read taking us to wonderful games, strikes at the root of the sport and teaches us much about what is right and what is wrong with it today. All baseball fans should read this book.”
