"Patriotism and America’s pastime converge in this exceptionally written history from Ecenbarger, who provides baseball stats alongside a compelling narrative of the U.S. ensnared in the perils of global war. The story of cooperation between professional sports and the U.S. government over a century ago proves prescient to the present day."—Booklist

"Ecenbarger describes how many [ballplayers] stayed out of the trenches and remained on the diamond as part of industrial baseball leagues.... The centerpiece of the book is the 1918 season of the six-team Bethlehem Steel League.... Those who opted to play in the industrial leagues were heavily criticized.... In the author’s portrayal, the controversy almost seems like a dress rehearsal for the following season’s Black Sox Scandal."—Wall Street Journal

“William Ecenbarger's informative and engaging study of baseball during the World War I era reminds us that the national pastime is an important social and cultural barometer in times of national stress and crisis.... Ecenbarger illuminates conflicting moral choices in times of war, between duty and sacrifice, on one hand, and the transactional nature of business and self-interest, on the other. He has recovered a lost era of baseball that is worth remembering.”—Journal of American History