Book Review: Deadball Stars of the National League

Deadball Stars of the National League
By Tom Simon (editor), Society For American Baseball Research
Published by Brassey’s Inc., January 2004
364 pages

This book is a throwback to the way that baseball used to be; it is filled with colorful characters, amusing anecdotes and the stories that helped to make baseball become our national pastime. Everyone has heard of Christy Mathewson, Fred Merkle, Jim Thorpe, Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, Honus Wagner, Pete Alexander, Charles Ebbets, Rabbit Maranville, Roger Hornsby - some of the big stars of the deadball era. How much do we really know about them? And how much do we know about the lesser stars - players such as “Noodles” Hahn or Homer Snoot?

Well, baseball fans before 1919 knew about these players - at least their exploits on the diamond and this book will bring you up to snuff on their antics both on and off of the field. This book is a collection of approximately 150 biographies of the players, managers, owners, and umpires of the senior circuit that made the game great before the lively ball and the transformation of baseball by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

I, like many others, have always had a special place in my heart for Fred Merkle of the New York Giants who on September 23, 1908 in his only game as a starter that season committed what will always be known as Merkle’s boner. Merkle was on first with Moose McCormick on third in a 1-1 game during a tight pennant race when the batter singled, driving in McCormick - or so it seemed. The Cubs’ second baseman, Johnny Evers, claimed that Merkle never made it to second and somehow came up with a ball (well after the fact) and tagged second for the force out. The umpires failed to rule and eventually NL President Harry Pulliam had to rule on the game - calling Merkle out and declaring the game a tie.

For me that had always been the defining moment of the deadball era - a moment of crisis that created a legend, cost the Giants the pennant and may have contributed to the pressures that forced Harry Pulliam to take his own life less than a year later.

This book takes the deadball era far beyond that - it gets into the lives and games of these men that played long before baseball paid millions or even a living wage in many cases. It’s a fascinating read that has almost as much history and drama as it does baseball. This project is brilliant and poignant as well and should be a must have in the library of any baseball historian. Even devotees of the game that have only a passing interest in the history of a bygone era will certainly enjoy this book.

Give this one 4 out of a possible 4 balls... and run - don’t walk to get a copy.

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