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Shocktober: The Biggest Upsets in World Series History
Baseball’s October showcase has provided some high drama over the years. Willie Mays’s spectacular catch in 1954, Bill Mazeroski’s walk-off homer in 1960, and Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit blast in 1988 are just a few of the memorable moments that have dominated highlight reels. The outcome of the Series has not always been terribly surprising—especially during the late 1940s and early 1950s when the Yankees captured five consecutive championships, breaking their previous record of four straight titles from 1936 to 1939. But in spite of its predictability at times, the Fall Classic has taken many unexpected turns. The 1906 Cubs lost to the weak-hitting White Sox after establishing a new regular season record for wins. The 1955 Dodgers avenged seven prior October failures with an improbable victory over the seemingly invincible Yankees. And in 1969, the Mets finally shed their image as “loveable losers,” dethroning the powerful Orioles. In more than a century of World Series plays, a number of similar scenarios have emerged. Twenty-two of those stories are told in Shocktober. The book also includes an appendix of game statistics as well as a section on World Series trivia.
259 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 7, 2025
About the author
Jonathan Weeks
17 books256 followersWeeks spent most of his life in the Capital District region of New York State. He earned a degree in psychology from SUNY Albany. In 2004, he migrated to Malone, NY. He continues to gripe about the frigid winter temperatures to the present day. He has published several books on the topic of baseball. He would have loved to play professionally, but lacked the talent. He still can't hit a curve ball or lay off the high heat. In the winter months, he moonlights as a hockey fan.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 17, 2025
An enjoyable, albeit brief look at twenty-two World Series upsets that did a good job balancing story and statistics on each one. As someone who has read quite a few baseball books, I enjoying finding new nuggets of trivia within it's pages.
Special Thanks to Lyons Press and Netgalley for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.
Special Thanks to Lyons Press and Netgalley for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.
November 10, 2024
While the winner of the World Series will be considered to be the “world champions” of baseball, that does not always mean that team is necessarily the best one. Sometimes a team who performed just well enough to get to the postseason will pull off a surprise and defeat favored teams to win the World Series. This book by Jonathan Weeks tells the story of some of these upsets.
Each chapter follows a format in which Weeks will begin by a short description of each team’s road to the World Series. This includes a short description of their season and, after 1969, the teams’ playoff victories. There are brief notes and stats on each team’s key players. Then Weeks will explain why one team was heavily favored and follows that up with summaries of each game in that World Series. Some of these summaries, including the finale of each one, will be longer than some others.
One can question whether these are the “biggest” upsets, as any book that lists the “best”, “greatest”, or “biggest” will be subjective and readers may disagree with the author’s list. These particular selections are quite accurate and while short, the explanations on why these were considered upsets are good.
Notice the use of words like “short” and “brief” in this review. That was one takeaway from this book as for each World Series, it felt that while the explanation on being an upset made sense, it just felt like more could have been discussed about each team and season. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable and very quick read that baseball fans should enjoy.
I wish to thank Lyons Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The views expressed are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
Each chapter follows a format in which Weeks will begin by a short description of each team’s road to the World Series. This includes a short description of their season and, after 1969, the teams’ playoff victories. There are brief notes and stats on each team’s key players. Then Weeks will explain why one team was heavily favored and follows that up with summaries of each game in that World Series. Some of these summaries, including the finale of each one, will be longer than some others.
One can question whether these are the “biggest” upsets, as any book that lists the “best”, “greatest”, or “biggest” will be subjective and readers may disagree with the author’s list. These particular selections are quite accurate and while short, the explanations on why these were considered upsets are good.
Notice the use of words like “short” and “brief” in this review. That was one takeaway from this book as for each World Series, it felt that while the explanation on being an upset made sense, it just felt like more could have been discussed about each team and season. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable and very quick read that baseball fans should enjoy.
I wish to thank Lyons Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The views expressed are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
January 16, 2025
Any book like this one is ultimately used as a conversation starter. The author chose his list of the biggest upsets in World Series history, based on many criteria: statistics (when a statistical underdog beat an odds-on favorite), unexpected outcomes (the Black Sox scandal), and more.
In the end, we are taken for a walk through baseball history, from spitballers to steroid users. We walk through all the changes, all the expansion, all the new playoff formats. In the end, we always (well, eventually always) come down to seven games and the crowning of a new champion.
In that sense, the book is somewhat formulaic. Each chapter begins with introductions of the top performers for each team, those teams' pathways to the World Series, and the final outcome. This book lends itself well to chapter reading, one World Series at a time.
As to the content, in my opinion - and again, that is the beauty of a book like this one, it's a conversation starter - there are several glaring omissions. Where are the Boston Red Sox? Even though they had their 86 year drought, when they were involved in World Series, they were heavily dramatic. In 1946, the Red Sox were heavily favored over the St. Louis Cardinals, but lost on Enos Slaughter's mad dash home, when Johnny Pesky "held the ball too long." In 1986, against the Mets, the Red Sox were on the verge of winning it all for the first time since 1918 when Mookie Wilson's grounder went through Bill Buckner's legs. In 2004, they were on the verge of defeat in the ALCS but not only won that series but pulled off that curse-breaking World Series win, shocking all of New England. And what of the Cubs in 2016? In both of these latter cases, the shock was the thing. Odds or not, "cursed" franchises always found a way to lose.
One of the interesting takeaways from this book, though not expressly written to highlight it, is the way that in the modern era World Series players seem to show up in World Series with other teams. Those intangibles that baseball teams are always looking for - grace under pressure, for instance - seems to truly exist.
The book includes an added notes section for each profiled World Series and statistical listings of the top performers in each contest.
In the end, we are taken for a walk through baseball history, from spitballers to steroid users. We walk through all the changes, all the expansion, all the new playoff formats. In the end, we always (well, eventually always) come down to seven games and the crowning of a new champion.
In that sense, the book is somewhat formulaic. Each chapter begins with introductions of the top performers for each team, those teams' pathways to the World Series, and the final outcome. This book lends itself well to chapter reading, one World Series at a time.
As to the content, in my opinion - and again, that is the beauty of a book like this one, it's a conversation starter - there are several glaring omissions. Where are the Boston Red Sox? Even though they had their 86 year drought, when they were involved in World Series, they were heavily dramatic. In 1946, the Red Sox were heavily favored over the St. Louis Cardinals, but lost on Enos Slaughter's mad dash home, when Johnny Pesky "held the ball too long." In 1986, against the Mets, the Red Sox were on the verge of winning it all for the first time since 1918 when Mookie Wilson's grounder went through Bill Buckner's legs. In 2004, they were on the verge of defeat in the ALCS but not only won that series but pulled off that curse-breaking World Series win, shocking all of New England. And what of the Cubs in 2016? In both of these latter cases, the shock was the thing. Odds or not, "cursed" franchises always found a way to lose.
One of the interesting takeaways from this book, though not expressly written to highlight it, is the way that in the modern era World Series players seem to show up in World Series with other teams. Those intangibles that baseball teams are always looking for - grace under pressure, for instance - seems to truly exist.
The book includes an added notes section for each profiled World Series and statistical listings of the top performers in each contest.
October 6, 2024
You can also see this review, along with others I have written, at my blog, Mr. Book's Book Reviews.
Thank you, Globe Pequot / Prometheus Books, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Mr. Book just finished Shocktober: The Biggest Upsets in World Series History, by Jonathan Weeks.
This book will be released on January 7, 2025.
This book about World Series upsets wasn’t a bad one, but could have much better. The author decided to write about 22 upsets. The book wasn’t long enough to provide good coverage of 22 of them and he was almost always shortchanging the game recaps in order to provide coverage of the teams and their seasons. The problem with the team recaps was his statistical usage was stuck in the batting average, triple crown stats, wins is what matters mentality.
The author also focused on too many series, but didn’t even get all of the upsets. It is not difficult to find ones that he missed. Just off the top of my head, I can add 1931, 1945, 1953, 1963, 1966, 1995 and 1996 to a list of notable omissions from the book.
This book could easily have gotten a C, but based on the strong team recaps (albeit with poor statistics), I’ll give it a B instead. Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, a B equates to 3 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
This is the fourth book by this author that Mr. Book has read. He gave Lore Of The Bambino, The Legend Of The Mick and The Umpire Was Blind! each B’s, while he gave Baseball’s Dynasties And The Players Who Built Them a D.
This review has been posted at NetGalley, Goodreads and my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews
Mr. Book finished reading this on October 6, 2024.
Thank you, Globe Pequot / Prometheus Books, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Mr. Book just finished Shocktober: The Biggest Upsets in World Series History, by Jonathan Weeks.
This book will be released on January 7, 2025.
This book about World Series upsets wasn’t a bad one, but could have much better. The author decided to write about 22 upsets. The book wasn’t long enough to provide good coverage of 22 of them and he was almost always shortchanging the game recaps in order to provide coverage of the teams and their seasons. The problem with the team recaps was his statistical usage was stuck in the batting average, triple crown stats, wins is what matters mentality.
The author also focused on too many series, but didn’t even get all of the upsets. It is not difficult to find ones that he missed. Just off the top of my head, I can add 1931, 1945, 1953, 1963, 1966, 1995 and 1996 to a list of notable omissions from the book.
This book could easily have gotten a C, but based on the strong team recaps (albeit with poor statistics), I’ll give it a B instead. Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, a B equates to 3 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
This is the fourth book by this author that Mr. Book has read. He gave Lore Of The Bambino, The Legend Of The Mick and The Umpire Was Blind! each B’s, while he gave Baseball’s Dynasties And The Players Who Built Them a D.
This review has been posted at NetGalley, Goodreads and my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews
Mr. Book finished reading this on October 6, 2024.
November 8, 2025
Decent and well-intentioned, "Shocktober" caters toward the beginner or intermediate fan, though not a kids' or YA book. Jonathan Weeks examines 22 World Series in which a heavily favored league champion lost to an unexpected or unusual challenger.
I credit Weeks with going back to the deadball era and making sure his 22 selections were evenly placed. There is happily no recency bias; 12 of the 22 Series covered are from before I was born.
The selection of "upset" Series is always a debate in and of itself. Six of the 22 are World Series lost by the Yankees, too many -- but not, for example, 1957, which was covered as an upset in John Klima's mean-spirited book "Bushville Wins!", or the 2004 Red Sox or 2015 Royals or 2016 Cubs. Still, I think Weeks does a good job of making sure that each Series is placed in historical context (why the deadball Era ended, the nine-game Series, baseball moving West, expansions), so that the book serves as a primer on all of baseball history 1901 to now.
But the book is still superficial. Some anecdotes are annoyingly incomplete; a long-debunked Elliot Asinof fictional invention is left in the 1919 White Sox chapter; the mention of the 2003 ALCS does not talk about Grady Little leaving in Pedro too long; the 1988 Kirk Gibson HR ignores the Mel Didier scouting report such that Gibson knew what pitch Eckersley would likely throw next. The statistical analysis, even 40 years into the sabermetrics era, gets no more complex than WHIP, and spills lots of ink on batting average and RBI rather than WAR or OPS+ or FIP.
A fun book, which will doubtless serve up some of your favorite memories, and point you to some long-ago World Series you're well worth learning more about -- but no more than that.
I credit Weeks with going back to the deadball era and making sure his 22 selections were evenly placed. There is happily no recency bias; 12 of the 22 Series covered are from before I was born.
The selection of "upset" Series is always a debate in and of itself. Six of the 22 are World Series lost by the Yankees, too many -- but not, for example, 1957, which was covered as an upset in John Klima's mean-spirited book "Bushville Wins!", or the 2004 Red Sox or 2015 Royals or 2016 Cubs. Still, I think Weeks does a good job of making sure that each Series is placed in historical context (why the deadball Era ended, the nine-game Series, baseball moving West, expansions), so that the book serves as a primer on all of baseball history 1901 to now.
But the book is still superficial. Some anecdotes are annoyingly incomplete; a long-debunked Elliot Asinof fictional invention is left in the 1919 White Sox chapter; the mention of the 2003 ALCS does not talk about Grady Little leaving in Pedro too long; the 1988 Kirk Gibson HR ignores the Mel Didier scouting report such that Gibson knew what pitch Eckersley would likely throw next. The statistical analysis, even 40 years into the sabermetrics era, gets no more complex than WHIP, and spills lots of ink on batting average and RBI rather than WAR or OPS+ or FIP.
A fun book, which will doubtless serve up some of your favorite memories, and point you to some long-ago World Series you're well worth learning more about -- but no more than that.
March 20, 2025
Being a baseball fan since I was young, I have read quite a number of books about the sport. I’ve read about or experienced first-hand most of the World Series that Jonathan Weeks highlights in his book Shocktober. I was looking forward to reading it, because, of course, the Mets 1986 victory over the Boston Red Sox had to be included, right? Right?
Wrong.
I consider the Mets’ 1986 victory over the Red Sox, particularly in Game 6, to be one of the greatest moments that shows why people love baseball. There are no time constraints. Anything can happen as long as you don’t get that third out. And yet, Weeks leaves this out of his book about the biggest upsets in World Series history. There are others I can think of, especially when thinking about the “cursed” teams of the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs. Granted, with 27 World Championships, the Yankees would have to appear a lot, but there also seems to be a bias by the author in favor of the St. Louis Cardinals as well. Historically, they are second only to the Yankees in World Series appearances, so that could be the reason, but I think he could have added about 3 more years (at least) and it would have felt less biased.
To read my full review, please go to Shocktober: The Biggest Upsets in World Series History by Jonathan Weeks – Top Moments in World Series History
Wrong.
I consider the Mets’ 1986 victory over the Red Sox, particularly in Game 6, to be one of the greatest moments that shows why people love baseball. There are no time constraints. Anything can happen as long as you don’t get that third out. And yet, Weeks leaves this out of his book about the biggest upsets in World Series history. There are others I can think of, especially when thinking about the “cursed” teams of the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs. Granted, with 27 World Championships, the Yankees would have to appear a lot, but there also seems to be a bias by the author in favor of the St. Louis Cardinals as well. Historically, they are second only to the Yankees in World Series appearances, so that could be the reason, but I think he could have added about 3 more years (at least) and it would have felt less biased.
To read my full review, please go to Shocktober: The Biggest Upsets in World Series History by Jonathan Weeks – Top Moments in World Series History
October 12, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!
Jonathan Weeks' Shocktober highlights 22 World Series upsets over the last 100+ years. The book goes into fine detail about each of the team's rosters, path to the World Series and results of the Series itself. I really appreciated the extra detail provided by the author that went beyond what is commonly known about each Series. It can read a bit like a long Wikipedia article at times but if you are a baseball fan, you will enjoy the detail.
The choice of the 22 World Series seems a bit random at times, I felt like it highlighted more of 'important' series than 'upsets' at times but it would have been enjoyable to read either way.
Shocktober is a great read for all baseball fans, including those like myself that have read probably every book about baseball history that there is.
Jonathan Weeks' Shocktober highlights 22 World Series upsets over the last 100+ years. The book goes into fine detail about each of the team's rosters, path to the World Series and results of the Series itself. I really appreciated the extra detail provided by the author that went beyond what is commonly known about each Series. It can read a bit like a long Wikipedia article at times but if you are a baseball fan, you will enjoy the detail.
The choice of the 22 World Series seems a bit random at times, I felt like it highlighted more of 'important' series than 'upsets' at times but it would have been enjoyable to read either way.
Shocktober is a great read for all baseball fans, including those like myself that have read probably every book about baseball history that there is.
November 22, 2024
***Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this upcoming book***
It may not be as poetic as the latest book by Joe Posnanski, but Shocktober was a fun and breezy read that goes over some of the biggest upsets in the history of the fall classic going all the way back to it’s origin. Books like this one are always fun for me because I love seeing the insane stats that were put up by old timey pitchers, especially during the deadball era.
My only real knock on this book is that it tends to spew a lot of results, numbers and facts at you more than it gives quotes and anecdotes from the respective series that particular chapter is focusing on. This might deter some casual baseball fans and possibly limit its appeal to some people. Overall, a great read and I highly recommend this to all baseball fans out there!
It may not be as poetic as the latest book by Joe Posnanski, but Shocktober was a fun and breezy read that goes over some of the biggest upsets in the history of the fall classic going all the way back to it’s origin. Books like this one are always fun for me because I love seeing the insane stats that were put up by old timey pitchers, especially during the deadball era.
My only real knock on this book is that it tends to spew a lot of results, numbers and facts at you more than it gives quotes and anecdotes from the respective series that particular chapter is focusing on. This might deter some casual baseball fans and possibly limit its appeal to some people. Overall, a great read and I highly recommend this to all baseball fans out there!
October 30, 2024
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book
Shocktober, you'd think it would be about some horror movies, but nope. This is about baseball. I'm a big baseball fan so this book was right up my alley. It details 22 World Series upsets. Now, it doesn't go into great detail, it give you a general summary of each season by each team, their struggles or their triumphs, and then gives a short amount on the World Series of that year. It not a bad book, it could be much better, but I enjoyed it
Shocktober, you'd think it would be about some horror movies, but nope. This is about baseball. I'm a big baseball fan so this book was right up my alley. It details 22 World Series upsets. Now, it doesn't go into great detail, it give you a general summary of each season by each team, their struggles or their triumphs, and then gives a short amount on the World Series of that year. It not a bad book, it could be much better, but I enjoyed it
November 10, 2024
Loved the chapters on the 1919 Chicago white socks and 1969 New York Mets. I learned some things I didn’t know before. Amazing Author! I always recommend his work!
November 10, 2024
Was very informational and intriguing. Hope others will give it a chance too!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews