Baseball has been postponed in the stadium, but that doesn’t mean enjoying baseball moments are at a standstill until our favorite team is back on the field.
St. Louis-based Reedy Press recently released local author and baseball player Ed Wheatley’s “Baseball in St. Louis: From Little Leagues to Major Leagues,” a book that tells the history of St. Louis baseball and its surprising impact on the community. Discover the history of the Major League’s Browns and Cardinals and the great teams of the Negro Leagues, but also find the ways baseball intertwined itself within the city’s culture.
Wheatley lays out the unique role baseball has played in St. Louis, and the role which St. Louis has played in the world of baseball. Through the hardships of multiple world wars, the poverty of The Great Depression, and times of civil and social disorder, baseball has been there, taking St. Louisans around the bases with hope and recreation.
St. Louis is a baseball town through and through, full of baseball lovers, and this book is their story. From young children playing in farm fields and brick alleys, moving on to little leagues, high schools and colleges. Some made it to the major leagues from St. Louis, some played simply for the love of the game. This is the story of St. Louis baseball and its impact on the community, for those who played and those who watched, and those of us still watching today.
Everyone knows the rich tradition of the St. Louis Cardinals – the “winning-est” franchise in the National League. Cardinals fans grew up listening to the likes of France Laux, Dizzy, Dean, Harry Caray and Jack Buck on radio and television. They’ve earned the appreciation and respect throughout the baseball world as the kind of fans that cheer their team’s players, yet give a roar of applause for a great defensive play by the opposing team.
Wheatley grew up in and around the world of baseball, from the time in his youth when his dad played professionally to his own baseball activities. He continues playing in senior league games across the country today. As president of the St. Louis Browns Historical Society & Fan Club, he works to preserve the history and legacy of this transplanted American League team.
Wheatley is also the author of “Incredible Cardinals,” and co-author of “The St. Louis Browns: The Story of A Beloved Team.” The Browns book was selected as the best book published on baseball in 2017, and its success led to a documentary, “The St. Louis Browns – The Team Baseball Forgot,” shown on the PBS network in 2018, which Wheatley helped produce. The film received an Emmy nomination and selection into the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s 13th Annual Film Series in Cooperstown in 2018, where Wheatley had the honor of introducing the film and speaking about the team.
The film’s success and the memories it stirred led to a second film that he also helped produce, entitled “A Baseball Legacy – Fans Remember the St. Louis Browns” that premiered on PBS stations in August 2019, and was subsequently selected for the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s 14th Annual Film Series in September 2019, where he once again, was invited to speak.
“Baseball in St. Louis: From Little Leagues to Major Leagues” is available wherever books are sold. While physical book stores are closed, the book can be ordered at reedypress.com or other book retailers.
Book info: ISBN: 9781681062532, hardcover, 11.5 x 9, 240 pages, $39.95.
