Researching James Hurst

Hurst had his greatest influence through his writings. His first major book, The Growth of American Law: The Law Makers (Little, Brown, 1950), examined the various institutions and groups that made law in America from independence through the mid-twentieth century—legislatures, the courts, the executive, the bar, and administrative agencies. His most influential work, Law and the Conditions of Freedom in the Nineteenth-Century United States (University of Wisconsin Press, 1956), was famous for his thesis that Americans used law to release the population's creative energies. The book usually deemed his masterwork is Law and Economic Growth: A Legal History of the Lumber Industry in Wisconsin, 1836-1915 (Harvard University Press, 1964; reissued with new introduction, University of Wisconsin Press, 1984).

Hurst's other books include Justice Holmes and Legal History (Macmillan, 1965), Law and Social Process in the United States (University of Michigan Press, 1960), Law and Social Order in the United States (Cornell University Press, 1977), A Legal History of Money in the United States 1774-1970 (University of Nebraska Press, 1973), The Legitimacy of the Business Corporation in the Law of the United States (University of Virginia Press, 1970), Dealing with Statutes (Columbia University Press, 1982), and Law and Markets in United States History: Different Modes of Bargaining Among Interests (University of Wisconsin Press, 1982). In 1971 he collected a series of influential law-review articles from the 1940s under the title The Law of Treason in the United States (Greenwood Press, 1971).

Hurst was selected in the 32nd round of the 1989 Major League Baseball draft out of Florida Southern by the Cleveland Indians. He was assigned to the Reno Silver Sox to begin his career in 1990 but was released after one minor league season in Reno. He was signed by the Rangers in July 1991 and spent the next few years in their farm system.

He made his Major League debut on Opening Day of the 1994 season on April 4 at Yankee Stadium against the New York Yankees. He pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Kevin Brown. His final Major League game would come on May 22 of the same season against the Seattle Mariners at the Kingdome.

The 1995 season was his last in professional baseball. He split time between the minor league systems of the Rangers, Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds.