Recently added to the more than 120 thematic presentations in the American Memory Web site is "Spalding Base Ball Guides, 1889-1939" which comprises a selection of "Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide" and the "Official Indoor Base Ball Guide." The collection reproduces 35 of the guides, which were published by the Spalding Athletic Co. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

"Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide" was perhaps the premier publication of its day for the game of baseball. It featured editorials from baseball writers on the state of the game, statistics, photographs and analyses of the previous season for all the Major League teams and for many of the so-called minor leagues across the nation.

"The Official Indoor Baseball Guide" covers a game unfamiliar to most contemporary baseball fans because its demise so long ago. These guides, too, offer rules and "how-tos" of the game, information on the game's founding fathers, photographic illustrations of teams and players from across the land and game statistics. The 20 "Official Indoor Base Ball Guides" included in this collection were published between 1903 and 1926.

During his more than 21 years' involvement with baseball's Major Leagues, A.G. (Albert Goodwill) Spalding (1850-1915) was a baseball player, manager and executive. With his brother he began the sporting-goods manufacturing and retail business that still bears his name and is known to millions. He also founded a publishing house, the American Sports Publishing Co.