Dr. Travis Stern's new book, "Ballplayers on Stage: Baseball, Melodrama, and Theatrical Celebrity in the Deadball Era" (Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2024) explores the relationship between professional baseball and professional theater in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Stern joins us in this episode to talk about his book and the how baseball and the theater contributed to the rise of the American culture, culminating with Babe Ruth's emergence as a national hero in the early 1920s.

Stern is an Associate Professor of Theater Arts at Bradley University.

Travis Stern on Bluesky (@travisstern.bsky.social)
Travis Stern at Bradley University

In Part Two, Craig went to a Duster show and talks about Duster, the show and the unusual opening act, Dirty Art Club.

Errata: At one point Stern mentions seeing the "Yankees and Mets." We believe he meant to say "Yankees and Dodgers" as the Mets were not a team in the Deadball Era.

Episodes mentioned or discussed:
205 - Baseball at War: Working and Playing Ball in the Bethlehem Steel League w/ William Ecenbarger (https://tinyurl.com/hooks2051114)
82 - Rube Waddell Would Make A Hell of a Movie w/ Prof. Alan H. Levy (https://tinyurl.com/Hooks821114)

You can support Hooks & Runs by purchasing books through our store at Bookshop.org. Here's the link. https://bookshop.org/shop/hooksandruns

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This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2024.