Gambling and the American Pastime

The 2023 season of Major League Baseball will begin on March 30, less than a week away. And as I write, baseball lovers around the world (including this lifelong fan) are still basking in the afterglow of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, which culminated with Japan’s victory over the U.S. in a superb championship game Tuesday night. This hardly seems an opportune moment, then, to tell you about a new book called Baseball at the Abyss: The Scandals of 1926, Babe Ruth, and the Unlikely Savior Who Rescued a Tarnished Game.