Baseball in the Roaring Twenties: The Yankees, the Cardinals, and the Captivating 1926 Season

by Thomas Wolf

Focusing on the extraordinary 1926 baseball season, Baseball in the Roaring Twenties shows how baseball was inextricably linked with Prohibition, the Jazz Age, and the rise of sports gambling during the twenties.
 

Genres: Sports, History, Nonfiction, Baseball

264 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2025

Reviews

[Michael Schramm · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 1920s was the period in America’s history where the sport of baseball made a quantum leap in spectator viewing at the nation’s ballparks. The populace enjoyed simultaneously more leisure time, had more disposable income—and parlayed that into hedonistic excess by way of indulging in gambling, jazz night club/movie theater/prize fighting attendance, indulging in alcohol by way of the speakeasy in a period of Prohibition ushered in by 1919—and more.

Baseball, and the colorful personalities of players like Babe Ruth of the Yankees and Rogers Hornsby of the St. Louis Cardinals exemplified the embracement of leisure and the 1926 World Series that the two teams took part in was very much an adjunct to the aforementioned leisurely pursuits and baseball spectators reveled in it in almost Romanesque “bread and circuses” fashion.

Author Thomas Wolf brings all of this to light quite handily, providing the reader with copious “play by play” passages on important games by teams leading into the pennant race—as well as the fine details of the Yankees-Cardinals World Series seven game matchup of 1926. I must forewarn that if the reader has only a casual interest/knowledge of detailed inning play, some sections of the book might be deemed tedious.

Wolf does a excellent job in bringing the vibrant personalities of players, owners and managers to light in this fine effort, and I have to laud him for bringing to light a parallel universe of by now increasingly heralded Black ballplayers like Satchel Paige, Rube Foster and many others who lived out their playing careers in segregated leagues.

(My appreciation to Netgalley which provided me with this book in exchange for a candid and honest review).

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the free Kindle book. My review is voluntarily given, and my opinions are my own.

This is a great read for any baseball and/or history lover. It's very interesting and very well researched. The book is about the 1926 season, but it talks about other parts in baseball history, as it is all connected.

Definitely would recommend this book.

[Richard Jaffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Wolf for the opportunity to read this delightful book in return for my honest review.

Just as the 2025 Pennant Races are heating up, Wolf has penned a wonderful book that focuses on the 1926 seasons of both "White" Baseball and "Black" Baseball as well as a colorful cast of characters from the "Babe," Lou Gehrig and Tony Lazerri of the Yankees, to Rogers Hornsby, and Grover Cleveland Alexander of the St. Louis Cardinals who squared off in the World Series. This was also the season when Judge Landis, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, had to deal with more rumors of fixing games in the 1919 Season, this time involving future Hall of Famers, Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker, among others.

As a long time baseball fan I obviously knew more about the famous "Murders Row" of the NY Yankees and would have liked a little more depth about the Cardinals and their incredible player-manager, Hornsby. Otherwise, I found the details about the events of the day, as well as the historical figures such as Al Capone, Calvin and Grace Coolidge, and Ban Johnson and others to be informative and adding color and context to the story telling.

I also appreciated Wolf's weaving in stories of some of the stalwart players in the various "Negro Leagues" including Rube Foster, who was instrumental in the creation of the Negro National League, as well as Satchel Paige, "Smokey" Joe Williams, Cool Papa Bell and even Rube Foster's brother Bill Foster. I was surprised to learn of some teams that existed in the Philadelphia area, such as the Hilldale Darby Daisies that played in the inaugural, 1924 Colored World Series and lost to the Kansas City Monarchs.

This book is well researched and fun to read for any sports fan, especially one who enjoys the history of the American Pastime, going from the deadball era to the House that Ruth Built. I highly recommend this very enjoyable and fast reading book.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read about baseball in the 1920s and before along with other historical events taking place during that time period. The book does focus somewhat on the season of 1926, but covers a lot of territory outside of that year. Still is is a good read for any fan of baseball.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog.

[James Breeden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baseball in the Roaring Twenties describes the 1926 baseball season and its exciting World Series--not only the Major League World Series but the Negro League's also. Wolf leads the reader with a sure hand through the season while also providing a glimpse of American society at the time. It's a fun, enjoyable read.

[B Mart · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a good book about baseball and the year of 1926. I enjoyed how the author used the 1926 season to tie in other events of the 1920’s. Someone should tell the author WW2 didn’t end on May 8, 1945 though.