January 30, 2025

University of Nebraska Press' baseball lineup plates another win

University of Nebraska Press books about baseball sitting around home plate at Haymarket Park.
Craig Chandler | University Communication

Craig Chandler | University Communication
A focus on books about baseball history has helped raise the national reputation of the University of Nebraska Press. The most recent award-winner (not pictured) is "Lion of the League: Bob Emslie and the Evolution of the Baseball Umpire" by alumnus Larry Gerlach.

The University of Nebraska Press baseball book collection has secured yet another Dr. Harold and Dorothy Seymour Medal.

Cover of the book "Lion of the League" showing a black and white photo of Bob Emslie, a baseball umpire during the time the game transitioned from an amateur to professional sport.
University of Nebraska Press
Cover of the book "Lion of the League."

Awarded annually for the best book of baseball history or biography (as determined by the Society for American Baseball Research), the 2025 Seymour Medal has been awarded to “Lion of the League: Bob Emslie and the Evolution of the Baseball Umpire,” by Larry Gerlach (University of Nebraska Press, 2024). 

This is the 12th time an NU Press book has earned the award since 2006 and the 13th overall. The award-winning run includes loading the bases with three UNP publications named as finalists in 2022. 

“SABR is home to the foremost group of baseball researchers and historians in the country,” said Rob Taylor, UNP’s senior acquisitions editor in charge of sports. “When they recognize your books, you know you’ve published something important to those who know baseball history.”

The University of Nebraska Press’ baseball expertise began in the 1990s when then-director Dan Ross reprinted several books dropped by trade publishers. The success of those books — which included Ty Cobb’s autobiography, “My Life in Baseball” — led to an expanded catalog of books on the national pastime, and by the 2000s, UNP had cemented its national reputation in the category by publishing original baseball books.

Learn more about the University of Nebraska Press’ successes in baseball history book publication.

Mugshot of Larry Gerlach
Gerlach

Gerlach is a Lincoln native and University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumnus. He is professor emeritus of history at the University of Utah and past president of the Society for American Baseball Research. He also wrote “The Men in Blue: Conversations with Umpires”. (Bison Books, 1994), and coedited “The SABR Book of Umpires and Umpiring.”

In “Lion of the League,” Gerlach tells the story of Robert Dean Emslie, who spent 56 of his 84 years in professional baseball, eight as a player and 49 as an umpire. Emslie’s 35 seasons as a National League umpire included the 1890 to 1920 era, the formative years of modern baseball, when the game transitioned from amateur to professional sport. 

The selection committee described the book as making “a strong case for Emslie’s candidacy for the National Baseball Hall of Fame with meticulous research of Canadian and American sources, and careful and compelling writing.”

Gerlach will receive the award at the annual NINE Spring Training Conference, March 8 in Tempe, Arizona.

The 2025 Seymour Medal finalists also included “Leave while the Party’s Good: The Life and Legacy of Baseball Executive Harry Dalton,” a UNP book authored by Lee C. Kluck.

Review baseball and other sports books in the University of Nebraska Press collection.