Rounding the Bases

"After identifying early conflicts between churches and baseball in the late-nineteenth century, Joseph Price examines the appropriation of baseball by the House of David, an early twentieth-century millennial Protestant community in southern Michigan. At the heart of the book is a sustained argument about how baseball functions as an American civil religion, affirming and sanctifying American identity, especially during periods of national crises such as wars and terrorist attacks." "In various ways Rounding the Bases charts new territory in the literature about baseball and religion. This book develops a sustained sociological argument for the conclusion that baseball is "a distinct denomination of American civil religion.""--Jacket.