Where They Ain't: the Fabled Life and Untimely Death of the Original Baltimore Orioles, the Team That Gave Birth to Modern Baseball
- List Price: $25.00
- Binding: Hardcover
- Publisher: Free Press
- Publish date: 01/01/2006
Where They Ain't tells the story of that tumultuous age, through the prism of the eras best team, the Baltimore Orioles, and its best hitter, Wee Willie Keeler, whose famous motto -- "Keep your eye clear, and hit 'em where they ain't" -- was wise counsel for an underdog in a big man's world. Just as John D. Rockefeller did with oil and Andrew Carnegie did with steel, the baseball owners in this era began to consolidate for the sake of monopoly profits. Butt Solomon's fascinating account of the "syndicate" agreement in 1899 between the greedy owners of the Orioles and the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers shows how the Orioles were soon destroyed, how the city of Baltimore lost control of its economic destiny, and how even Willie Keeler, a joyful innocent, ultimately sold out as well. Where They Ain't lays bare the all-too-human origins of our national game and offers a cautionary tale of the pastime at a century's end.
