Eyes on the Sporting Scene, 1870–1930

Helms Hall of Fame’s brothers William M. and Andrew B. “June” Rankin lived exciting lives covering sports for papers like the New York Sunday Mercury, New York Herald, New York World, Brooklyn Daily Eagle and New York Clipper from 1870 to 1930. Playing for amateur and semiprofessional Rockland County (N.Y.) clubs in the mid–1860s through early 1870s, the brothers developed into baseball writers and editors.
Often working with Henry Chadwick, called the Father of Baseball, the brothers became authorities on the sport, writing histories of clubs and players, and scoring for the early New York and Brooklyn clubs.
June went on to cover boxing as it transitioned into a gentlemen’s sport, football as it emerged on college campuses, and golf through the formative years of the USGA and PGA. He also wrote two baseball books. Filled with sporting details, this book sets the brothers into a period of great changes in the world of American sports.

Pamela A. Bakker has a music degree from Rider University’s Westminster Choir College and an M.A. and M.Div. from New Brunswick Theological Seminary. She has worked for various churches for more than 30 years and has published numerous articles and poems.

Pamela A. Bakker
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 228
Bibliographic Info: 22 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2013
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7314-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0167-0
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments  viii

Preface  1

One. Family Origins (1715–1859)  5

Two. The Horror of the Civil War (1849–1865)  13

Three. New York, New York (1865–1870)  26

Four. Follow the Ball (1870­–1879)  38

Five. Rising to the Top (1880–1884)  58

Six. Celebrities in Baseball (1885–1889)  78

Seven. A Decade of Change (1890–1899)  106

Eight. Origins of Baseball (1885–1906)  122

Nine. A Century Turns (1900–1910)  139

Ten. Working to Death (1910–1913)  161

Eleven. June Writes Alone (1913–1930)  167

Appendix  179

Notes  185

Bibliography  201

Index  209

“well documented book”—Nineteenth Century Notes.