Award-winning author Charlie Bevis explores the long history of the major league doubleheader from its beginnings in the late 19th century up to the present day. Emphasizing its significance within baseball and popular culture, Bevis describes the twin bill’s role in holiday celebrations, its one-time identity as Sunday sporting event, and the part it played in baseball’s survival during the Depression and World War Two.

Charlie Bevis, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, is an adjunct professor of English at Rivier University. He has written for Nine, The Cooperstown Symposium, The National Pastime and Base Ball, and is the author of several baseball books. He lives in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.

Charlie Bevis
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 238
Bibliographic Info: 19 photos, tables, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2011
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4214-0
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5755-7
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Preface 1

 1  The First Doubleheader 5

 2  Holiday Two-Game Sets 16

 3  Emergence of the Doubleheader 26

 4  Lure of the Doubleheader 39

 5  Early Holiday Doubleheaders 54

 6  First Sunday Doubleheaders 64

 7  Tinkering with Doubleheaders 74

 8  Expansion of the Holiday Doubleheader 90

 9  Maturity of Doubleheaders 101

10  Scheduled Sunday Doubleheaders 118

11  Swing-Shift and Other Wartime Doubleheaders 139

12  Twi-Night and Day-Night Doubleheaders 153

13  Decline of the Doubleheader 174

14  “Let’s Play Two” 186

15  Extinction of the Scheduled Doubleheader 193

Appendix A: Doubleheader Milestones 205

Appendix B: Doubleheader Records 209

Appendix C: Doubleheaders by Year 212

Chapter Notes 217

Bibliography 225

Index 229

“Bevis takes the reader on a nostalgic journey and provides a reminder of what the paying customer has lost. A most enlightening and welcome work”—Spitball; “Bevis is a thorough and thoughtful scholar”—Nine.