Baseball in San Diego: From the Plaza to the Padres (Images of Baseball Series) »

Bill Swank has been called San Diego's preeminent baseball historian for his extensive work on the San Diego Padres. Aided by over 150 rare photographs primarily from the San Diego Historical Society, this book is the perfect complement to his previous Arcadia title, Baseball in San Diego: From the Padres to Petco.

Baseball in San Diego: From the Plaza to the Padres, takes the reader on a seven-decade journey from Horton Plaza, the site of San Diego's first base ball game in 1871, to lower Broadway and the future home of Lane Field. Before the Pacific Coast League, San Diego had three Class D teams. One was the Bears, whose frustrated owner Dick Cooley complained, "I don't believe they'll make baseball pay here in a thousand years." With America's finest year-round climate, barnstorming and black baseball were popular attractions. Rube Foster's Chicago American Giants practically lived in San Diego in the winter of 1913. All the while, there were constant struggles between the forces of amateur and professional baseball for players, diamonds, and sports coverage.