Frank "Home Run" Baker:

by Barry Sparks

In the decades before baseball fans became enamored of sluggers like Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx, very few players were identified with the long ball. Instead, the game was dominated by men like Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner, players who sprayed the ball around the park, stole bases and mastered the hit and run. In fact, only one player entered the baseball mythology for his Frank "Home Run" Baker. Born in Trappe, Maryland, in 1886, Baker earned his moniker by hitting two game-changing homers in the 1911 World Series. That was the also the first year he led the American League in home runs, with the grand total of 11. Altogether, he led for four consecutive years (1911-1914), though he never hit more than 12 dingers in a single season. Playing third base for the Philadelphia Athletics and the New York Yankees, Baker led the way for the more Ruthian totals to come in the Roaring '20s. His is the story of a young player who at the height of his career risked throwing it all away in a contract dispute with the legendary Connie Mack. It is the story of the deadball era and the transition to the game we know today.

Genres: Baseball

280 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2005

Reviews

[KOMET · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a child, I fondly remember having a set of cards featuring some of major league baseball's greatest and unsung players. I loved learning their stats, which attested to their talent and skill. Batting average, RBIs (i.e. 'runs batted in'), runs scored, ERA & Ks ('earned run average' and [K ='strikeouts'] which apply to pitchers), and home runs. One of these cards featured John Franklin "Home Run" Baker. I scanned his stats, which aptly summed up his career. Impressive. But never did I give a thought to what the man, "Home Run" Baker, was like.

That is, until a couple of years ago, when I bought this book. I'm glad I did, because it gave me entree to a man, who, during the prime of his career as a third baseman with Connie Mack's Philadelphia A’s in the American League, became a nationwide sports hero. Through keeping in shape on his farm in his beloved State of Maryland during the off-season and perfecting his skills as a third baseman and hitter, Baker helped to make the A’s into one of the earliest baseball dynasties during the 1910s. Baker himself earned the sobriquet “Home Run Baker” as a 4-time home run champion and from being the first major leaguer to hit 2 home runs in a World Series game in 1911.

The arc of Baker’s major league career spanned the Deadball Era (1900-20) --- when the baseball was heavier, games were generally played with a single ball (which pitchers were free to ‘enhance’ with their spit --- often mixed with tobacco juice --- and scuffing as a way of giving them an advantage over opposing batters; this practice was outlawed in the 1920s; nowadays, major league baseball games are played with a plethora of balls), pitchers dominated the game, and the tactics of ‘hit and run’ (which were so well used by star players like Ty Cobb, Nap Lajoie, Eddie Collins, and Honus Wagner) were the norm --- and the coming of “Babe” Ruth as a home run hitter nonpareil in the 1920s. Reading this book gave me a better appreciation for players like Baker who helped make baseball the national pastime during the first half of the 20th century.

[Tim Timberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was informative but at times the narrative got bogged down by too many details.