Description
Book SynopsisNot only was it probably the most cutthroat pennant race in baseball history; it was also a struggle to define how baseball would be played. This book re-creates the rowdy, season-long 1897 battle between the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Beaneaters. Bill Felber brings to life the most intensely watched team sporting event in the US’s history to that time.
Trade Review“Felber . . . excels at demonstrating the dissimilarities between these two evenly matched opponents. . . . [He] gives a spirited retelling of the season, giving life to greedy owners, rabid fans, drunken ballplayers and terrorized umpires, all the while bringing to life an era of baseball when home runs were a rarity, players fielded with no gloves and starting pitchers threw almost 400 innings a season.”—
Publishers Weekly“Bill Felber has woven a picturesque tale of how baseball was played more than 100 years ago in the rowdy days of the 1890s. The story, although concentrating on the 1897 pennant race between Baltimore and Boston, vividly describes the atmosphere of the game on and off the field, and in doing so creates a rollicking good tale to boot.”—Pete Palmer, coeditor of
ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, 4th edition
“This book is a hoot from start to the cliff-hanging conclusion.”—John Linsenmeyer,
Greenwich Time (CT)
“A fine source of stories about the days when . . . Boston fans celebrated victories by tossing into the air beans that they had carried to the games in their pockets for that purpose, and when an umpire could be arrested twice in one season without losing his job.”—Bill Littlefield, WBUR-FM Radio, NPR’s “Only a Game”
Table of ContentsList of IllustrationsForeword by Senator Edward M. KennedySources and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Baseball's Original Evil Empire2. The Royal Rooters3. Spring Thunderbolts4. Parade of Champions5. Suspected Criminals6. Streaks of June7. Sunday Misdemeanors8. The Rise and Fall of Louis Sockalexis9. Day Job for Garroters10. Don't They Keep Warm?11. Fall in BaltimoreAfterwordAppendixNotes
