I cannot recommend this book enough for people to get a good understanding of the sports/labor history. One nugget I liked was before the players association, I believe it was the Dodgers who determined that they could let everyone in the park for free and still turn a profit because of concession sales. (Obviously before the implementation of free agency.)I'm about halfway through Lords of the Realm by John Helyar which is a pretty interesting history of baseball ownership, the players union, and the interaction between the two. Lots of history of owners claiming poverty/losses in public that turns out to be bullcrap.
There is also some interesting Pete Rose/gambling nuggets in there that rarely, if ever, get mentioned these days whenever Rose is the topic of the day.