May 10, 1869 marked the opening of the first U.S. transcontinental railroad, opening the American west to people, commerce, and settlement as never before. America was entering a period of massive growth in industrial invention, commerce, and population by that year. The same year, the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first all-salaried professional team in the fledgling sport of baseball.

Jeff Orens, a 1973 graduate of Mt. Lebanon High School, has written Selling Baseball, an account of the entrepreneurs who helped make the game the national pastime.

Baseball is the second oldest game in the United States and Canada. The oldest is lacrosse, created by the indigenous peoples of North America around the 12th century. Baseball’s early history began after the Civil War — the late 1860s to the 1890s — but it wasn’t until the early 20th century that America fully embraced baseball.

The merchandising genius of 19th century baseball superstars Albert Spalding and George Wright and those connected with them opened up the game to thousands of Americans who had never played it, and thousands more who were new to America and its way of life — immigrants from all over Europe and the British Isles.

Newly arrived immigrants could learn to play baseball, and by doing so, learn a new language through sport, while acclimating to a new country and new neighborhoods, and fit into the cultural mainstream, explained Orens. “It was the confluence of civics, patriotism, and country. And it was fun!”

Both Wright and Spalding were stars on the field, then each retired, entered the sports equipment where they became hugely successful, in the process popularizing other sports such as tennis, golf and hockey. In his research for the book, Orens learned that it was Wright himself who invented the first protective piece of equipment in the game, a rubber mouth guard, 10 years before the catcher’s mask was invented in 1877. Wright “discovered” a catcher’s mask developed by Fred Thayer, manager of the Harvard baseball team. He promptly purchased it, patented it, and paid Thayer royalties from its sale.

Both Wright and Spalding were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame for their accomplishments. While they came from starkly different backgrounds — Albert was a young, gangly pitcher from the Illinois prairie, and George was the quintessential athlete from the New York City area — their captivating performances on the field, along with their promotion of the game and of sports equipment, brought the sport of baseball to generations of fans, and played an important part in developing professional baseball to the billion-dollar business it is today.

The major focus of Selling Baseball is the 1860s through the 1890s, when Wright and Spalding were playing, and later, at the head of their respective sporting goods businesses. During the 1890s and into the early 1900s, through their superstar status in the game, they helped millions of Americans and immigrants learn the game by publishing sporting journals and guides such as The Official Guide to Baseball — with  rules of the game, statistics on players, tips on how to bunt and how to steal a base — which were snapped up enthusiastically, along with detailed guides on other developing games including football, tennis, golf, and basketball, and later, gym equipment.

Orens’ book demonstrates the interplay between the birth and maturation of baseball and American culture, as it depicts baseball’s first two superstars, through their playing careers as well as their subsequent sports equipment business ventures.

He has been a devoted baseball fan since the age of 9. His father gave him a book, The Glory of Their Times, that fed his growing appetite for the sport and for history. The book, edited by Lawrence Ritter, gave detailed accounts of 26 early players and their careers in baseball, and also explored their feelings and emotions about the game they loved to play. “It was a very personal accounting of the days of baseball from the early 1900s to 1945; fascinating, heady stuff for a youngster who loved baseball,” Orens recalled.

Selling Baseball is available online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Target.