<div>A wild pop-culture history of baseball’s most colorful and controversial decade, the 70s: “A trove of nuggets many of us either never knew . . . or forgot.” —The New York Times The Major Leagues witnessed more dramatic stories and changes in the 1970s 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.</div>

Big Hair and Plastic Grass

<div>The author of Big Hair and Plastic Grass returns with “a knuckleball ride through the wonderful and wacky year . . . the national pastime changed forever” (Kirkus Reviews). America, 1976: colorful, complex, and combustible. It was a year of Bicentennial celebrations and presidential primaries, of Olympic glory and busing riots, of “killer bees” hysteria and Pong fever. On the baseball diamond, Thurman Munson led the New York Yankees to their first World Series in a dozen years, but it was Joe Morgan and Cincinnati’s “Big Red Machine” who cemented a dynasty with their second consecutive World Championship. The season was defined by the outrageous antics of team owners Bill Veeck, Ted Turner, George Steinbrenner, and Charlie Finley, as well as by several memorable bench-clearing brawls, and a batting title race that became just as contentious as the presidential race. Meanwhile, as the nation celebrated its two-hundredth year of independence, Major League Baseball players waged a war for their own liberties by demanding free agency. From the road to the White House to the shorts-wearing White Sox, Stars and Strikes tracks the tumultuous year after which the sport—and the nation—would never be the same.</div>

Dan Epstein
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Books By Dan Epstein (2 Books)

Big Hair and Plastic Grass

Stars and Strikes

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