Cracks in the Outfield Wall: The History of Baseball Integration in the Carolinas by Chris Holaday (review)

whether Cobb even read his own autobiography.Given that Ballplayers on Stage was published in 2024, it seems as if the monograph's reliance on the received version of Cobb the Villain rather than Leerhsen's well-documented reconsideration of the player is an unfortunate oversight.Ballplayers on Stage provides a fascinating picture of its subjects' stage careers.While the theatrical stylings of Anson, Kelly, Cobb, and Waddell, and Mathewson's playwriting, so minor and undistinguished that his name was removed from his play's credits, are footnotes in most baseball histories, Stern's monograph gives a much fuller picture of an aspect of their lives to this point largely unexplored.Its reflections on the broad connections between two forms of popular entertainment in the late 19th and early 20th century are also intriguing.It is, however, a piece of academic writing with a theoretical underpinning in theatre history and performance theory and, therefore, not aimed at an audience of well-informed baseball enthusiasts.In this regard, it is no doubt better appreciated by scholars within the author's field.Note 1.The British spelling of 'theatre' is used throughout the Ballplayers on the Stage.For the sake of consistency, I have also used this spelling.