"Baseball: An Encyclopedia of Popular Culture" looks at American society through the prism of its favorite pastime, discussing not only the game itself but a variety of topics with significance beyond the diamond. Its 269 entries, which vary in length from two hundred to twenty-five hundred words, explore the game s intersection with race, gender, art, drug abuse, entertainment, business, gambling, movies, and the shift from rural to urban society.Filled with larger-than-life characters, baseball legends, sports facts and firsts, important milestones, and observations about daily life and...