Pennant Races

by Dave Anderson

Discusses the greatest down-to-the-wire finishes in baseball history, describing the three-way 1920 race that featured the outbreak of the Black Sox scandal, the 1934 Gas House Gang Cardinals, and the famous "Phillie Phlop." Tour.

Genres: Baseball, Sports

421 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1994

Reviews

[Tom Gase · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dave Anderson, may he rest in peace, was a great writer, and it was fun to read this one again during the World Series (2018), only a few weeks after Anderson sadly passed away. This book takes about 15 pennant races from 1908 to 1993 and spends anywhere from 15-35 pages on each of them. The one thing going against the book is just that, some of these pennant race stories I felt could have been longer books themselves. Some of the pennant race stories I had ALREADY read full books on (1908, 1951, 1978, 1920, 1934, 1964,etc) so I didn't want to read too much about those since I already knew probably too much. Still, Anderson's writing and reporting made it worthwhile to revisit. I really appreciated reading about the pennant races in 1967, 1991 and 1948 though. Very good stuff from a great baseball writer, you'll read about players such as Cobb, DiMaggio, Williams, Jackie Robinson, Mantle, Yaz, Reggie Jackson, Bonds, McGriff and Musial just to name a few.

[Harron68 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sooooo joyous, so well told! Thru history the famous players who did well or flubbed a chance come again to life. The unknowns who become heroes-for-a-day are noted. Oh, this is so wonderful!
There is the big drawback of so many players from sometimes a 4 team run for the pennant, I forgot who was playing for whom. Still, from the early 1900s (and here I recommend a fine book CRAZY '08, by Cait Murphy) 1908 race to modern times and the less exciting multi-stage playoffs to get to the world series.
All in all, a true life lesson that a star can fail and a "nobody" can be a hero ought to inspire us all to do what we can in life.

[Will G · Rating 4 out of 5]

A retelling of the best MLB pennant races of the 20th century. It’s well written with lots and lots of direct quotes and stories from both the players and managers who participated in them. The book reads like an in depth old fashioned newspaper column. If you like baseball, a good one to read.

[Daniel Gunderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome