The National Game

book by Spink

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Last updated

July 16, 2026

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Alfred H. Spink's The National Game (1910) is considered one of the first attempts at a standard history of baseball. The book, along with A.G. Spalding's America's National Game, highlights Ernest L. Thayer's poem "Casey at the Bat" as a significant piece of baseball literature. Baseball has been deeply woven into American life, often referred to as "America's game". This sentimentality is reflected in various forms of art, including literature, paintings, and films, that celebrate baseball's role as a national pastime.12

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baseball
Baseball and the arts
Spink’s The National Game (1910) and A.G. Spalding’s America’s National Game (1911), generally regarded as the first attempts at writing a standard history of baseball, cite “Casey at the Bat” as the best baseball poem ever written. Spalding goes so far as to proclaim that “Love…
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Spink’s The National Game (1910) and A.G. Spalding’s America’s National Game (1911), generally regarded as the first attempts at writing a standard history of baseball, cite “Casey at the Bat” as the best baseball poem ever written. Spalding goes so far as to proclaim that “Love…
Read More