| Synopsis: |
This study provides the first comprehensive examination of the relationship between Congress and professional sports. It is not merely a catalog of all the hearings, investigations, and bills introduced to Congress in the twentieth century; rather, the work is a concise, interpretive narrative of Congress's involvement in the professional sports world. Testimony is included from such colorful figures as Ty Cobb, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Bob Feller, Casey Stengel, Charles Finley, Pete Rozelle, Don Shula, Jack Dempsey, Jersey Joe Walcott, Muhammad Ali, Sonny Liston, Don King, and Rick Barry. Leading members of Congress, such as Emanuel Celler, Kenneth Keating, and Jack Kemp of New York, Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, Philip Hart of Michigan, Everett Dirksen of Illinois, Sam Ervin of North Carolina, and Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio, are also important to the story. It is, however a story that scholars have written about only on the periphery and of which most sports fans know little. |