Finding America in a Minor League Ballpark

Description

Over forty million people attend minor league baseball games each season. Who are they? Why do they come? What happens in the stands?

Noted social scientist Harris Cooper took a job as a Seating Bowl Host for the most famous minor league baseball team, the Durham Bulls. Throughout the book, Dr. Cooper draws on his knowledge of social science to extract from his experiences a description of the inhabitants and goings-on at a ballpark. It illuminates not just baseball writ large, but also provides a compelling portrait of Americans as a people and their shared love of our national pastime.

Throughout the book you will find:

• A description of what goes on in the ball park
• A brief history of minor league baseball, the Bulls, and the city of Durham, so typical of small American cities
• Profiles the ballplayers, focusing not on their on-field statistics but on who they are and where they come from
• Profiles of twelve baseball movies, all of which focus on baseball not played in the major leagues