Finding America in a Minor League Ballpark

Over forty million people attend minor league baseball games each season. Who are they? Why do they come? Let's find out! Noted social scientist Harris Cooper took a job as a Seating Bowl Host for the most famous minor league baseball team, the Durham Bulls. As a host, he helped fans find seats and other stadium amenities, made sure everyone was safe, took pictures, and chased kids from the aisles. He got to talk with a wide-ranging assortment of people, from regular attendees to those at their very first baseball game, from retired judges to middle school students. Minor league baseball games draw a broader array of Americans than any sport. The fleeting moments spent talking baseball with the fan sitting next to you or with a ballpark employee disguise the remarkable variety of people who call themselves "baseball fans." Dr. Cooper brings these people to life. In addition, the book presents a brief history of minor league baseball, the Bulls, and the city of Durham, so typical of small American cities. It profiles the ballplayers, focusing not on their on-field statistics but on who they are and where they come from. The book also profiles twelve baseball movies, all of which focus on baseball not played in the major leagues. Throughout the book, Dr. Cooper draws on his knowledge of social science to extract from his experiences a description of the inhabitants and goings-on at a ballpark. It illuminates not just baseball writ large, but also provides a compelling portrait of Americans as a people and their shared love of our national pastime.

Harris Cooper is the Hugo L. Blomquist Dis­tinguished Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience, Emeritus, at Duke University. At Duke, he served as chair of two departments and as the Dean of the Social Sciences for the College of Arts & Sciences, helping administer the departments of history, so­ciology, political science, and cultural anthropology, among others. He is the author of four textbooks, editor of three books on social science research methods, and four books on education policy. He is a Gold Chalk Award winner for Excellence in Graduate Education from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Dr. Cooper is also the author of American History Through a Whiskey Glass: How Distilled Spirits, Domestic Cuisine, and Popular Music Helped Shape a Nation. He has been an avid baseball fan since growing up in the shadow of Yankee Stadium. He lives in the Research Triangle of North Carolina with his wife Beth.