Stealing Games: How John McGraw Transformed Baseball with the 1911 New York Giants

by Maury Klein

The 1911 New York Giants stole an astonishing 347 bases, a record that still stands more than a century later. That alone makes them special in baseball history, but as Maury Klein relates in Stealing Games they also embodied a rapidly changing America on the cusp of a faster, more frenetic pace of life dominated by machines, technology, and urban culture.

Baseball, too, was evolving from the dead-ball to the live-ball era--the cork-centered ball was introduced in 1910 and structurally changed not only the outcome of individual games but the way the game itself was played, requiring upgraded equipment, new rules, and new ways of adjudicating. Changing performance also changed the relationship between management and players. The Giants had two stars--the brilliant manager John McGraw and aging pitcher Christy Mathewson--and memorable characters such as Rube Marquard and Fred Snodgrass; yet their speed and tenacity led to three pennants in a row starting in 1911. Stealing Games gives a great team its due and underscores once more the rich connection between sports and culture.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, History

369 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 22, 2016

About the author

Maury Klein is renowned as one of the finest historians of American business and economy. He is the author of many books, including The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America; and Rainbow's End: The Crash of 1929. He is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Rhode Island. He lives in Saunderstown, Rhode Island.

Reviews

[Chris Jaffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book, not a great book. I debated between giving it three or four stars here. I opted for three because author Maury Klein does a good job avoiding the pitfalls of this type of book.

What is "this type of book" then? A history of a season - how a team did during it. Many books like this lapse into a predictable and wearying litany of game accounts. Then this happened, then this happened, and .... that makes for an OK newspaper article on a game, but a deadening approach to a 300 page book. Klein is aware of it, and continually bounces back and forth between game accounts and life off the field. Sometimes it's biographical material about the players. Sometimes it's other things going on in New York City -ranging from a big heat wave to the popularity of a new amusement park on Coney Island. But Klein keeps the narrative moving.

The odd thing about this book is that it takes half of its time just to get to 1911. There is an extended background on John McGraw and how he'd run the Giants since taking over a decade before. It's good stuff. You can see McGraw's first great team fall apart and him learn the lesson of rebuilding - and 1911 was to be the year they took off (and so they did). It's good, but a bit long.

The main problem with this book, and the reason I'm tempted to give it just three starts, is there is so little payoff. OK, games and played. The pennant is won. The World Series is lost. Everyone dies. The end. I'm less aggrieved that the book doesn't live up to the hyperbole of the subtitle ("How John McGraw Transformed Baseball with the 1911 New York Giants") that some marketing whiz stuck on it - but mostly ..... stuff just happens. Why does it matter? I dunno. Why focus on this team. 'Cuz Klein felt like it, I guess.

It's professional. It's well-written. It's underwhelming. 3.5 stars.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple of years ago I read Maury Klein's biography of Jay Gould and enjoyed it immensely.Stealing Games: How John McGraw Transformed Baseball with the 1911 New York Giants is Klein's most recent book. At least, that's the title on the ARC I received, but I see it it is titled Stealing Games: The Amazing 1911 New York Giants and Their World on Goodreads as I write this. I hope the title on the ARC is the true title because John McGraw is the true focus of the book and that title is more descriptive of the contents of the book.

John McGraw was the pugnacious long-time manager of the New York Giants. His early career as a feisty infielder with the Baltimore Orioles and eventual player-manager with Baltimore is covered in the first part of the book. The second section covers his move to New York to manage the Giants with the bulk of this section being a month by month breakdown of the 1911 pennant race followed by a game by game description of the 1911 World Series. The final 25 pages follow the remaining years of McGraw's life as well as the fates of the rest of the members of the 1911 Giants.

I thought the writing style was a little drier than I remembered from Klein's book about Jay Gould (especially in the early chapters) but the action picked up once the narrative of the 1911 season began. Fans interested in the early days of major league baseball's "modern era" should find the book interesting and informative.

Full disclosure: I won a free version of an Advanced Reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Joseph Adelizzi, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting reading how the game was so different back then, with brains and speed being keys to success, pitchers throwing over 300 innings in a season as well as displaying much more competence with the bat than the overly specialized pitchers of today. Also surprising to see how quickly the managers pulled pitchers from a game when met with early inning problems - which seems almost paradoxical given what I just said about the number of innings pitched by individual pitchers during the season. Most memorable, I'm sure, will be the many tales of integrity, professionalism, and compassion from the likes of the gritty McGraw, to the cerebral Mack, through to many of the Giants players. Lastly, it was an added bonus for me, a life-long Philadelphian, to read how the Philadelphia Athletics defeated the Giants in that 1911 World Series.

[Billy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally picked up Stealing Games because I recognized the cover as being a Graig Kreindler painting, and I love Kreindler's artwork. While early 20th century baseball history isn't my usual thing, I found Klein's book about John McGraw and the 1911 NY Giants to be very engrossing. Mr. Klein goes into detail not just about the Giants team of the years leading up to 1911 but also what was happening in New York City at the time. And while John McGraw is the main focus of the book, I loved learning more about Giants pitcher Christy Matthewson. You definitely do not need to be a Giants fan to enjoy this captivating look at baseball's distant past.

[Carl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Klein an economic historian takes on baseball's dead ball era with mixed results.
Klein spends nearly half of the book leading up to the 1911 season in a section that works as both a team biography and a bio of their manager John McGraw. Slowly and painstakingly Klein brings us to the 1911 season and guides us with verve and wit through the tumultuous season.

the concluding chapter about the 1911 series feels almost anitclimatic as McGraw game changing philosophy of speed and contact was built slowly over several seasons leading to a record 347 bases in 1911. In the series The Philadelphia A's completely shut down the vaunted Giant's running game winning the series in 6 games.

a good but not great look at the New York Giants and their skipper.

[Kerry Gleason · Rating 3 out of 5]

The historical detail was interesting and fast-paced until the critical season. Then, it became mired in day-by-day statistics and fewer biographical gems.

[Doctor Moss · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up Klein's book to get an experience of the how baseball felt to fans and players in the early 1900s. The McGraw teams in particular were exciting and even revolutionary for their emphasis on speed, intelligence, and tactics as against size and strength.

I have to say the book comes up a little short on conveying that feel. It is long on facts and shorter on color and excitement.

The first part of the book builds up to the 1911 season. Klein sets the stage by telling about John McGraw’s early days with the National League Baltimore Orioles in the 1890s. McGraw was part of a distinctive approach to the game, exemplifying, along with Willie Keeler, this new approach — stealing bases, bunting for hits, hitting and running, . . McGraw took to the Orioles’ strategy like a native, and these same elements the basis for the teams that he would build as a manager later in his career.

That theme, I think, is the most interesting in the book. So many times in sports, a team builds on a new strategy that catches the rest of the teams off-balance — the “west coast offense” in football, the “triangle offense” in basketball. And McGraw’s teams seemed to double-down on their new edge. The 1911 Giants led the National League with 347 stolen bases, including an incredible 15 in one game. McGraw’s own scrappy, feisty character personified the strategy.

Klein takes us through the 1911 season, game by game. 1911 had some great players — Christy Mathewson and Rube Marquard from the Giants, but so many throughout both leagues — Eddie Collins, Grover Cleveland Alexander, and “Home Run” Baker on the Philadelphia A’s, Honus Wagner on the Pirates, even Ty Cobb and Cy Young. There are also some great “characters” like Bugs Raymond and Charlie Faust on the Giants.

It’s a little surreal to read about these legendary players in first-hand accounts of the day, as mortal, everyday players. Klein does a nice job on the research, mixing contemporary newspaper editorial and player anecdotes into his accounts of daily wins/losses and individual performances.

1911 had its controversies as well, especially an apparent attempt to bribe the World Series umpires to help the Giants win the World Championship. Klein includes a good, lengthy discussion of the complications of the investigation, which was never truly resolved. We still don’t definitively know who was behind the offer to the umpires.

Klein’s book is informative. I think that’s its strength. I certainly know much more about that era of baseball than I did before reading his book. And he conveys that feeling of everydayness in the careers of distant legends. Klein seems at his best when conveying what happened, and not so much at his best when drawing out big themes or setting up the drama of situations. For example, the Giant’s strategy of hit and run baseball, stealing bases, depending on speed and intelligence is more stated than portrayed in colorful, dramatic brushstrokes. I was looking for a little more of the latter, but readers looking more for the facts may love the book.

[Scott Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book looks at a far different time in baseball, with a team that focused on speed, base running, pitching and base stealing. It looks at the New York Giants (yes, they actually started in New York) and a team helmed by one of the greatest managers of all time, John McGraw. While the 1911 team is the primary focus, this work looks at the life and career of McGraw and some of his key players as he built a team that would be among the pennant contenders for the first few years of the 20th century. In particular, the 1911 team would set season records for stolen bases, a mark that no team, even with expanded rosters, longer seasons and more athletic talent, has surpassed.

While this book is primarily for the sports fan, it can appeal to those who really don’t care much about baseball. Klein’s descriptions of life during that time is a window into a bygone era, one that we really don’t know near as much about as we think. While there are the obligatory discussions of scores, stats and games, there are personal accounts, biographies and social and political context to keep any reader engaged.

The idea of a team built around the stolen base would be so out of place in today’s game. Given the analytic emphasis, the stolen base is not seen as a good move. Yet, McGraw proved himself adaptable and a manager who could do what it takes to win. It is likely that if McGraw was managing baseball during this time, he would put together a team that would both buck convention, and find a way to succeed. Worth the time to read, even if you aren’t a baseball fan.

[David Belisle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Klein takes us back to the 1910s in all it's wooden ballpark glory. He captures all the nicknames of the times, the social nuances and problems that plagued the sport. This may be perhaps the most in-depth book on the managerial skills of arguably the best manager in the history of baseball, with a tip of the hat to Connie Mack.

The New York Giants changed the way the sport was played and Klein takes us through the 1911 season game by game, player by player. It's salted peanut wrapped in nostalgia.

A Four-Star read I highly recommend.

[David Leister · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old-timey baseball stories never disappoint, and this is a fun account of a somewhat forgotten, but notable team. The narrative gets a little choppy when the author speeds through players, managers, and no scores, but I still had a good time. The biggest issue is the claim that the 1911 Giants “transformed” baseball seems more like a marketing tagline than an actual claim, as the book doesn’t really stake out any lasting change the team made to the sport, and it’s unlikely that a small-ball team would have any lasting impact in the wake of Ruth and the live ball era just a few years later.

[Patrick Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written book about how John McGraw remade his aging tean with youth and speed and won the 1911 National Legue pennant. Chock full of information about the New york Baseball Giants and their manager John McGraw, a terror on the field and a generous soul off of it. Stories of the players and their lives and their comings and goings as McGraw built a squad in his image. this is a tremendous history and would be great for baseball fans and students of the game.

[Jim Blessing · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book about major league baseball, particularly the New York Giants, in the early part of the 20th century.

[Josh Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, even though it was not what I expected. It does a great job of balancing game by game detail with big picture stories about teams and people. But it is about much more than simply the 1911 season. In fact it takes half of the book just to get there. The author does focus in on that season in more detail, but I think I enjoyed the first part of the book even more as the background of Manager McGraw and the Giants is explored. The title also insinuates that the author will talk at length about stolen bases and McGraw's strategy, but in my mind, that subject got very little treatment beyond passing mentions about stolen base numbers. Nevertheless, I much enjoyed reading about baseball in the early 1900's and imagine that fans of historical baseball would appreciate this book very much.

[Joe Santoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting to read a sports book written by a historian.... most sports books try a little too hard to put the game in greater historical context.. Klein sticks to the topic at hand, with great results. The first 1/3 or so is essentially a short bio of John McGraw, then he covers the 1911 Giants season in detail which is a fun read, especially since I've been playing the 1911 season with APBA.

If I was to have a complaint, it's with the title... hard to call a team 'amazing' that lost the world series, and hard to say they changed baseball when the opposite was true.. not too long after this came Babe Ruth and Home Runs, not McGraws speed and grit.

Poor title and unproven thesis aside, this is an excellent book on the 1911 season, and I may even check out some of Klein's other books on the railroads.

[victor harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baseball purists will love this swing back to early 20th century baseball where the emphasis was on pitching, fundamentals, and small ball before Ruth transformed the game with his prodigious home run output. With the irascible John McGraw at the helm of the old NY Giants, the franchise became a perennial powerhouse. Pitcher Christy Matthewson was the only true superstar on the team as McGraw assembled a gritty roster of fierce competitors who relied on stolen bases, bunting, and the hit and run to vanquish their rivals. It would make for some epic match ups with their bitter foes - the immensely talented Chicago Cubs and lead to the growth in baseball's popularity, cementing its status as the national pastime.
Off the field, McGraw was a generous, gracious, and considerate man; on the field, he was a menace to umpires, opponents, and anyone else who stood in the path of his fanatic commitment to victory. His bipolar mental make-up captures the spirit of the man who helped define the ferociously competitive baseball sentiments of that era. Well documented and researched with good biographical compilations and game descriptions.

[Ian Yarington · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a huge baseball fan my entire life. I wanted to be a ball player when I was a kid and I practically studied the game. I love reading about the old times because the fundamentals and "small ball" were the main focus. The old dirt bags; bunting, stealing, hit and running their way to victories. I loved this book because its factual and tells a real story but also because it reminds me of being a kid and the love I have for the game.

[Andrew Coiner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wanted to like it as I try to read as much about the great game as is humanly possible. In a word this book is tedious as the author insists on delivering useless information on nearly every game in the chosen era. Skip it and read Frank Deford's book on the same subject.

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not exactly what it advertises but about baseball and good enough.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The structure is a bit odd, but I adore this book. Easily in my top 5 baseball books of all time.

[Tom Gase · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy to read, well researched book on the New York Giants of the 1911 season, a team that constantly used the stolen base to win games. The author Maury Klein does a good job of describing the Giants in the years before, how they were dominant in 1904 and 1905, the year of their first World Series win. But then the author does a good job of describing how manager John McGraw rebuilded his team with faster players. There are side stories on such players as Fred Merkle, Christy Matthewson, Rube Marquard, Fred Snodgrass, Chief Meyer, etc, but none of them go into too great of a detail, so you don't feel estranged from the original story. The story of the 1911 season actually doesn't begin until a little over a third of the way into the book, so be patient as a reader. Good stuff though on how the game was played before home run hitters such as Babe Ruth showed up.

[John Chaves]

Learned alot about baseball in the early part of 1900. - Christy Mathewson, John Mcgraw, New York Giants, Polo Grounds and what life was like in New York City.