Deadball Stars of the National League

by Tom Simon (Editor)

This new volume is the first book establishing a relationship between Brassey's, Inc. and the premier research organization in all of sports, the Society for American Baseball Research. This initial release allows you to return to one of the most colorful, popular, important, and distinct periods of baseball history. With the Society for American Baseball Research to guide you, you'll learn about the stars, the regulars, and the people behind the scenes - who were all the leading lights of the senior circuit. Through them, follow the great game's opening decades as the original eight National League franchises combated the American League, only to strike up a partnership with it and start the World Series in 1903, launching the major leagues as we know them today. Lavishly illustrated, featuring photographs and autographs of every player or person profiled, Deadball Stars of the National League gives fans a unique window into the game of inside baseball, a time when the stolen base and the sacrifice were a manager's key weapons, when pitchers finished what they started, and when the baseball itself was a sodden, misshapen, tobaccostained menace. Edited by Tom Simon and written an

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Biography

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice coffee table book and a nice easy read that can be put down and picked up pretty easily. The book arranges the League, first is well known umpires (Hank O'Day and Bill Klem) as well as several executives of the National League. It then lists the team by order of wins during the Deadball era, which they consider to be from 1901-1920, starting with the New York Giants and ending with the St. Louis Cardinals. Each chapter begins with a brief overview of the club during this period and some of the notable players/management on a team. The chapter then gives brief bios of around 10-20 of the players. You can tell that it was a collaborated effort which in someways distracts from the book since almost every article starts a similar way with talking about how good or unappreciated this player was. But on the whole it provides a great cross section of National League in the Deadball Era. You have the famous ones like Chief Meyers, Frank Chance, and Rogers Hornsby. You have some of the lesser known players Sam Leever, Armando Marsans and Bill James. When reading this book, one thing that does stand out which I found interesting considering how we think about days of the reserve clause but most if not all of these players moved around the League with regularity.
On a personal note, I did enjoy reading the bios of two Cincinnati Reds. John "Rube" Benton from Clinton North Carolina (not far from where my family are from) who was a competent pitcher from 1910-1915 and 1923-25, till his exploits with drinking, gambling and fast cars cut his career way too short. Also I enjoyed reading the bio of Edd Roush from Oakland City Indiana (a few miles down the road from were I live). A Hall of Fame center fielder from 1916-1926, he was one of the few players of that era that did not waste their money or lose it all in the stock market. He became a well know pillar of the community after retirement and passed away only in 1988, the last player living from the infamous 1919 World Series.

[Don LaFountaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! It combined two of my favorite genres: baseball and history.

This book was about various baseball players who played in the National League during the Deadball Era - from 1901 to 1919. It gave an overview in the beginning, and also wrote about a a couple of the most prominent umpires during that time, as well as about the Presidents of the National League. From there, the book was broken down into eight chapters, one for each of the 8 National League teams that were playing during the Deadball Era. The order was determined by how well the teams played from 1901 - 1919 based on their winning percentage. So these chapters started with the New York Giants, and ended with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Along the way, the reader is given a biography of the players on each team. While no book about the Deadball Era would be complete without a write up on Christy Mathewson, Frank Chance, Honus Wagner, Casey Stengel, Miller Huggins, and John McGraw, this book truly focuses on the many other characters that played during this time along with the famous baseball characters. Some of the players that the reader will come across include Bennie Kauff, Vic Saier, Samuel Leever, E.L. Grant, John "Hans" Lobert, John Hummel, Victor Willis, and Bugs Raymond. The short biographies in these pages are detailed and bring each player back to life, even if it is for a short time. Many of the players are not household names to baseball fans, and it reinforces the idea that it takes all kinds of players to make up a team, especially a successful one. The stories also provides some of the player's statistics; stats that are mind-blowing to today's fans - think 14 homeruns to lead the league and pitchers pitching over 300 innings!

This is a book that I think all baseball fans will enjoy, especially if they have a love of history too. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know about the game of baseball during the Deadball Era. What better way than to read about the players who played the game then?

[Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent research and short biographies of the keyy players in the National League from 1900-1920, by SABR. Includes Hall-of-Famers and many who are not. Sheds light on their career, personal life, ancestry and retirement from baseball,

I would only recommend it to other baseball historians or dedicated fans of the game. It might be a tad boring for the average reader to read about folks he's never heard of nor cares anything about.
Common consensus is that most early ballplayers were a rough, drunken and uneducated lot and many of them were. I've found, however, that many were also college educated and/or clean-living men who loved the game in spite of the rough-and-tumble aspects of early baseball.

Cardinal pitcher Bill Doak taught Sunday School before going to the ballpark for afternoon games. Yankee manager Miller Huggins (formerly a second-baseman in Cincinnati and St Louis) was a lawyer. Pirate pitcher "Deacon" Phillippe earned his nickname by professing his Christian faith. Other players would not play on Sunday due to their faith....among them was Branch Rickey, the man who ultimately integrated baseball. Others, like Rogers Hornsby, disdained alcohol and tobacco because of their fears it would diminish their skills. Hornsby wouldn't even go to movies fearing that the "flicker" would damage his batting eye.

Every baseball historian should add this to their library. SABR also published a like book for the American League.

[Chris Witt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm biased. Deadball era is my favorite era of baseball, and these 2 SABR volumes will be sitting on my bookshelf for reference for a long time to come.

Long live the inside game!

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reference book for "quick" bios of players from the deadball era.