The contemporary place of minor league baseball in American life has been put under a microscope in Homestand: Small Town Baseball and the Fight for the Soul of America, Will Bardenwerper’s charming, ...

“For over a century, minor league ballclubs had provided these small towns with so much more than just baseball,” Bardenwerper writes. The teams helped to “anchor communities that were ...

He recounts what was lost in Batavia when minor-league baseball left town—and what was found when a new squad bearing the old name was established in its place.

Generally, interest and investment in baseball has been declining, but Will Bardenwerper’s new book Homestand: Small Town Baseball and the Fight for the Soul of America examines the importance of ...