About Baseball Rebels  and Major League Rebels

Baseball Rebels tells stories of mavericks, reformers, and radicals who shook up the baseball establishment and helped change America. These players, managers, sportswriters, activists, and even a few owners were influenced by, and in turn influenced, America's broader political and social protest movements, including battles against racism, sexism, and homophobia. (University of Nebraska Press)

Major League Rebels is a captivating history of the baseball reformers and revolutionaries who challenged their sport and society-and in turn helped change America. Athletes have often used their platform to respond to and protest injustices, from Muhammad Ali and Colin Kaepernick to Billie Jean King and Megan Rapinoe. Compared to their counterparts, baseball players have often been more cautious about speaking out on controversial issues; but throughout the sport's history, there have been many players who were willing to stand up and fight for what was right. In Major League Rebels: Baseball Battles over Workers' Rights and American Empire, Robert Elias and Peter Dreier reveal a little-known yet important history of rebellion among professional ballplayers. These reformers took inspiration from the country's dissenters and progressive movements, speaking and acting against abuses within their profession and their country. Elias and Dreier profile the courageous players who demanded better working conditions, battled against corporate power, and challenged America's unjust wars, imperialism, and foreign policies, resisting the brash patriotism that many link with the "national pastime." American history can be seen as an ongoing battle over wealth and income inequality, corporate power versus workers' rights, what it means to be a "patriotic" American, and the role of the United States outside its borders. For over 100 years, baseball activists have challenged the status quo, contributing to the kind of dissent that creates a more humane society. Major League Rebels tells their inspiring stories. (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers)

Peter Dreier discusses his two new books, Baseball Rebels and Major League Rebels