The Ginger Kid: The Buck Weaver Story

by Irving M. Stein

Buck Weaver seemed born to play the game of baseball, and he played it with unbridled passion and joy. He was the best third baseman Ty Cobb ever saw. He is still considered by most observers the best third baseman in the history of the Chicago White Sox and one of the best ever in all of baseball. Yet his career was cut short at the age of twenty-nine when, in the wake of the infamous Black Sox scandal of 1919 when players conspired to throw the World Series, he was banned from baseball for life by the newly appointed baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Why was Weaver banned? What crime had he committed? And what kind of a man was George Daniel "Buck" Weaver really? The Ginger Kid provides historians and baseball fans with the entire story of the life of Buck Weaver, from his first appearance on the ball fields of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, through his rapid though ertatic rise to the major leagues, the Black Sox scandal and trial, his ouster from the game he loved so much, and his unrelenting efforts, up to the day he died, to clear his name. Was Weaver's fate unjust? Should he be posthumously reinstated into the good graces of baseball? Herein lie the facts of the case. A few baseball and legal experts have already spoken out on the subject. Now you, the reader, can decide for yourself.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction

337 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1992

Reviews

[Jay Schutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps my rating of this book is a little prejudiced because it is about one of my hometown's heroes or goats, if you will, George "Buck" Weaver. Weaver was one of the "eight men out" of the 1919 Chicago White Sox players who allegedly threw the World Series of that year to the Cincinnati Reds five games to two.
The author tells the story well of Weaver's life and that 1919 season in particular and the resulting trial after the 1920 season. Times were different then and gambling in the stadiums was prevalent and hard to police. Major League Baseball even did little to stop it, but when a new commissioner was appointed in 1920, things came to a head.
In the trial the eight "Black Sox" were determined not guilty of the fix but were banned for life by new commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Weaver got a "raw deal" in the trial. He claimed he never took any money but did have knowledge of a possible plot but kept it to himself and did not participate. He was misrepresented by his lawyers and never got a chance to tell his side of the story.
I really enjoyed this book in light of the fact that we have no baseball season at this time. I also enjoyed getting the feel of old-time baseball as played 100 years ago. Well done.

[Lane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book about Buck Weaver and his career. Makes a compelling argument that Weaver did not participate in the 1919 Black Sox scandal but was banned anyway. I did not know much about his life after baseball.

[Steve101953 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story but poorly written. Too much detail on games the Sox played during the 1917-20 seasons and the scandal itself was described poorly. Had a hard time staying with the book but was worth it because if the story.

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

read some time in 1994