Big Hair and Plastic Grass
A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging '70s
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The Bronx Is Burning meets Chuck Klosterman in Big Hair, a wild pop-culture history of baseball's most colorful and controversial decade.
The Major Leagues witnessed more dramatic stories and changes in the ‘70s than in any other era. The American popular culture and counterculture collided head-on with the national pastime, rocking the once-conservative sport to its very foundations. Outspoken players embraced free agency, openly advocated drug use, and even swapped wives. Controversial owners such as Charlie Finley, Bill Veeck, and Ted Turner introduced Astroturf, prime-time World Series, garish polyester uniforms, and outlandish promotions such as Disco Demolition Night. Hank Aaron and Lou Brock set new heights in power and speed while Reggie Jackson and Carlton Fisk emerged as October heroes and All-Star characters like Mark "The Bird" Fidrych became pop icons.
For the millions of fans who grew up during this time, and especially those who cared just as much about Oscar Gamble's afro as they did about his average, Dan Epstein's Big Hair serves up a delicious, Technicolor trip down memory lane.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The 1970s were largely defined by clashes between the establishment and the counterculture, and nowhere was this more apparent than in the ballpark; baseball accepted integration only to experience other upheavals, such as free agency, Astroturf, the designated hitter, drugs, and the sexual revolution. The consolidation of team ownership under wealthy moguls like Ted Turner, and the focus on TV revenues, shaped the sport into what we know today. The idea of the gentleman player went the way of the dinosaur as fans discovered the fallibility of their heroes. Epstein, an enthusiastic sports fan who wants to recapture the idyllic tumult of his youth, meticulously documents dozens of plays. He guides readers carefully through the decade to illustrate the changes to the sport, the teams, and America. Epstein is a thorough researcher, a devoted fan of the game, and an entertaining writer, but readers who don't come to his book with a serious love of America's pastime may find themselves bogged down in minutiae; fans, on the other hand, will pour over every page. Photos.
