August "Garry" Herrmann: A Baseball Biography

by William A. Cook

August Garry Herrmann entered the murky waters of 19th century machine politics in Cincinnati, serving as a trusted lieutenant to one of the most powerful political bosses in the country, George B. Cox. Herrmann, a gifted man who introduced modern management principles to municipal government and oversaw the committee that built Cincinnati's modern water works system, eventually did for baseball what he did for his home town, guiding it into a new century. Along with George B. Cox and Cincinnati mayor Julius Fleischmann, Herrmann bought the Cincinnati Reds from John T. Brush in 1902. By 1903 he had chaired the peace conference between the leagues that ushered in the modern game. With the leagues united, Herrmann was selected to head up the National Commission, a three-person ruling body that governed major league baseball in the years before the commissionership.

303 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

There is more than one author in the Goodreads catalog with this name. This entry is for William A. ^ Cook.

William A. Cook is the author of numerous nonfiction books, including seven on baseball history, and has appeared in productions on ESPN2 and the MLB Network. A retired health care administrator and former township councilman, he lives in Manalapan, New Jersey.

Reviews

[Lee Ballanfant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid Biography of a forgotten, but nevertheless powerful in baseball up to the Black Sox era. Cook brings out the relationship he had with AL President Ban Johnson to determine the direction of the game up until Judge Landis became commissioner.