Department of History

Rob Ruck

  • Professor

Fields

U.S. History
Sport History
Pittsburgh History

Teaching

U.S. History Since 1877
U.S. History Since 1945
History of Sport
History of Sport and Global Capitalism

Education & Training

  • PhD, University of Pittsburgh, 1983

Representative Publications

Pittsburgh Rising: From Frontier Town to Steel City (2023)

Tropic of Football: The Long and Perilous Journey of Samoans to the NFL (2018)

Raceball: How the Major Leagues Colonized the Black and Latin Game (Beacon Press: 2011)

Rooney: A Sporting Life (with Maggie Jones Patterson and Michael Weber) (University of Nebraska Press: 2010)

The Republic of Baseball: Dominican Giants of the American Game (with Dan Manatt)  (PBS: 2006-2008)

The Tropic of Baseball: Baseball in the Dominican Republic (University of Nebraska Press,1999)

Sandlot Seasons: Sport in Black Pittsburgh (University of Illinois Press,1993)

Steve Nelson, American Radical (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1981) with Steve Nelson and James Barrett

Research Interests

Mal Goode Reporting: The Life and Work of a Black Broadcast Trailblazer, with Liann Tsoukas (forthcoming)

The Souls of the Game: The Voices of Black Baseball, a permanent exhibit at the Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, Opening May 2024.

Youth in the Republic of Play (a book about youth and global sport)