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Sunday Games, Booze, Cheap Tickets: How St. Louis Played A Huge Role In Keeping Baseball Alive

Baseball and St. Louis go together like beer and brats, and the relationship between the city and sport began more than 130 years ago.

Chris Von der Ahe, a German grocer and beer-garden proprietor, risked his life savings in the 1880s, when he founded the franchise that would become today’s St. Louis Cardinals.

As author Edward Achorn describes in his newest book, Von der Ahe knew little about baseball but would become one of the most important and amusing figures in the game’s history.

Achorn is an editorial page editor with the Providence Journal in Rhode Island and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for distinguished commentary.  The book is, “The Summer of Beer and Whiskey: How Brewers, Barkeeps, Rowdies, Immigrants, and a Wild Pennant Fight Made Baseball America’s Game.”

Host Don Marsh talked with Achorn about how Von der Ahe used a recipe of Sunday games, booze and cheap tickets to help revitalize the sport in St. Louis.

Related Event

Left Bank Books Presents Author Edward Achorn
Thursday, May 2, 2013
7:00 p.m.
Left Bank Books - Downtown, 321 North 10th
(314) 367-6731
info@left-bank.com

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Alex is the executive producer of "St. Louis on the Air" at St. Louis Public Radio.
Mary Edwards is a producer for St. Louis Public Radio's broadcast program, "St. Louis Symphony."
Don Marsh served as host of St. Louis Public Radio’s “St. Louis on the Air" from 2005 to 2019, bringing discussions of significant topics to listeners' ears at noon Monday through Friday. Don has been an active journalist for 58 years in print, radio and television. He has won 12 Regional Emmy Awards for writing, reporting, and producing. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, was inducted into the St. Louis Media Hall of Fame in 2013, and named “Media Person of the Year” by the St. Louis Press Club in 2015. He has published three books: his most recent, “Coming of Age, Liver Spots and All: A Humorous Look at the Wonders of Getting Old,” “Flash Frames: Journey of a Journeyman Journalist” and “How to be Rude (Politely).” He holds an honorary Doctor of Arts and Letters degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.