The Sun Field

New York City: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1923. 1st edition. Hardcover. pp. 204, [ads]. 8vo. Bound in maroon cloth with gold lettering to front board & spine. The bottom edges of the boards are bumped and rubbed. The tail and crown of the spine are rubbed and bumped, and the top edge of the spine is discolored. The original plain endpapers have been professionally replaced with endpapers of similar material, colour and texture. The contents are clean and unmarked. The dust jacket is green with black lettering. The top and bottom of the spine is missing for about 1/2' across and 1/4' to 1/2' down (corresponding to the bumping and fading). There are also some noticeable chips at the folds. Despite defects as noted, both the book and dust jacket are in good condition. A famed sportswriter, baseball aficianado, and critic, Broun was born in Brooklyn in 1888, and began his newspaper career with the New York Morning Telegraph in 1910. In 1921, he joined the Morning Herald (later New York Herald) where he began his famous column 'It Seems to Me'. He was a life-long friend of Christy Mathewson and Babe Ruth, and a member of the Algonquin Round Table. He died in 1939. This is his fourth book, described by Andy McCue in his baseball book bibliography 'Baseball by the Books', as 'the first novel with serious baseball content aimed at an adult audience. The book is narrated by a former sportswriter, as Broun was, in love with a free-spirited feminist, as was Broun's wife, while she falls for a baseball player who clearly is modelled on Babe Ruth.' (p. 25).