Description: Victory Field, built in 1996 as home to the Indianapolis Indians, is considered by many today as the best minor league ballpark in the nation. But baseball has deeper roots in the Circle City, as fans of the Tribe will discover in the pages of Baseball in Indianapolis, which tells the story of the American pastime in the state capitol from the post-Civil War era up to the present day. Legends like Rube Marquard, Oscar Charleston and Roger Maris are all a part of Indianapolis' baseball heritage. So too are present-day stars like Randy Johnson, Larry Walker and Aaron Boone. Even Hank Aaron had a stint with the barnstorming Indianapolis Clowns in 1952, en route to his record-breaking career.
Brief description: Author W.C. Madden captures the history of baseball in the Circle City- including semi-pro and amateur clubs, youth baseball and a vintage base ball scene that is a throw back to a by-gone era-with more than 130 images dating back to the 1880s. Madden, an Indianapolis native, chairs the regional chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research. This is his seventh book about the game he still plays and loves-baseball.