Synopses & Reviews
Winner of the 2011 Seymour Medal from the Society for American Baseball Research, for the best book of baseball history or biography
andquot;An irresistible look back on Fenway Park's first season, not just for Sox fans . . . a great choice for anyone who enjoys a dip into baseball history at its best.andquot;andmdash;Huffington Post
Even people who arenandrsquo;t fans of baseball know Fenway Park. More than just a ballpark, it is a part of American culture, and has been for nearly one hundred years. In Fenway 1912, Glenn Stout tells the remarkable story of Fenwayandrsquo;s first year, from the long winter when locals poured concrete and built the park to the ragtag Red Sox team that embarked on a journey to the World Series while the paint was still drying and the grass still coming in. Stout tells the stories behind the parkandrsquo;s notorious quirks like the Green Monster, and of the designers, builders, managers, and players who made Fenwayandrsquo;s first year unforgettable.
For all that has been written in tribute to the great Fenway Park, no one has ever really told the behind-the-scenes true story. Drawing on extensive new research, the esteemed baseball historian Glenn Stout delivers an extraordinary tale of innovation, desperation, and perspirationandmdash;capturing Fenway as never before.
andquot;Fenway 1912 reads like a novel, detailing the trials and tribulations of the quaint ballpark and the team itself andhellip; Stout has made a great story out of history.andrdquo;andmdash;Baseball America
andquot;Stout's vivid writing and extraordinary research make the journey worthwhile in so many ways . . . you will likely feel as if you were in the creaky grandstand yourself.andquot;andmdash;Boston Globe
Review
"Stout imbues his account with a unique vibrancy and a razor-sharp intelligence. A wonderful sports book." -- Booklist, starred review and#160; "A valuable addition to baseball history . . . Baseball diehards and historians, and of course Red Sox fans, will find much of interest in this paean to one of sportand#8217;s most famous venues." -- Kirkus Reviews and#160; "Fun and informative . . . A well-constructed tribute to Fenway on its upcoming 100th anniversary." -- Publishers Weekly "This is a book for anyone who cares about the storied Boston Red Sox, about their 100-year-old bandbox of a stadium, about the remarkable championship season of 1912, about the street-level history of Boston, and about why baseball will forever be the all-American pastime. This is a book for all of us." and#8211; Larry Tye, author of SATCHEL: The Life and Times of an American Legend "Glenn Stout has done the impossible: he has put an end to the seemingly bottomless genre that is Fenway Park books. We now need no more. We get not pomp and circumstance, but the bones and blueprint of a legendary ballpark and#8212; topped with a star-filled World Series that still endures. He doesnand#8217;t pretend history is straw hats and cigars, but gives you real people, real baseball and (the best part) real Boston, the way any real writer should." and#8211; Howardand#160;Bryant, ESPN, and author of The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron
Review
"A well-written and thorough look at the Yanks . . . essential for Yankees fans." Publishers Weekly
"This book does ample justice to [the Yankees'] great history . . . even Yankee haters will find much to enjoy." Library Journal
"Opinionated, knowledgeable, and steeped in the kind of historical minutiae fans adore ." Booklist, ALA
"[A] conscientious investigation of what really happened in its complexity and ramification . . . in clear, engaging prose." Boston Globe
"Dazzling . . . complicated portrait of the ways a team and a game weave in and out of politics, history, and popular culture." -- Eric Neel, ESPN.com
Review
"Young Woman and the Sea is the story of Gertrude Ederles epic swim across the English Channel interwoven with a sweeping and glimmering history of swimming. These were the good old days when open water swimmers were sex symbols, pioneers of the sport, and leaders of social change. For anyone who loves the water, or has a big dream this is the book to read!"
Lynne Cox, author of
Swimming to Antarctica and
Grayson"Too often, looking at America through its sports, and vice versa, results in a distorted view of both of them. In Glenn Stout's account of Trudy Ederle and the English Channel, we have a clear and honest mirror. Young Woman and the Sea is a first-rate piece of social history, and a tale told, well, swimmingly." Charles P. Pierce, author of Idiot America and Moving the Chains
Synopsis
In honor of its hundred-year anniversary, Glenn Stout tells the remarkable story of Fenwayand#8217;s very first year, from the long winter when locals poured concrete and erected history to the ragtag Red Sox team that won a World Series for Fenwayand#8217;s first season. Drawing on extensive new research, Fenway 1912 is an extraordinary tale of innovation, desperation, and perspirationand#8212;capturing Fenway as never before.
Synopsis
A 2012 Top Ten Sports Book as selected by Booklist, winner of the 2011 Seymour Medal and Larry Ritter Award from the Society for American Baseball Research, and finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award for nonfiction, Fenway 1912 is the remarkable story of Fenway's very first year.
Even people who aren't fans of baseball know Fenway Park. More than just a ballpark, it is a part of American culture, and has been for nearly one hundred years. From the long winter when locals poured concrete and built the park, to the ragtag Red Sox team that embarked on a journey to the World Series while the paint was still drying and the grass still coming in, Stout tells the stories behind the park's notorious quirks like the Green Monster, and of the designers, builders, managers, and players who made Fenway's first year unforgettable.
For all that has been written in tribute to the great Fenway Park, no one has ever really told the behind-the-scenes true story. Drawing on extensive new research, the esteemed baseball historian Glenn Stout delivers an extraordinary tale of innovation, desperation, and perspiration -- capturing Fenway as never before.
Synopsis
“After one hundred years, each time you walk up the ramp from beneath the stands and out toward that sea of sunlit grass, Fenway Park remains the most special kind of place there is, a place that can still change your life.”
In anticipation of the one hundredth anniversary of Americas most beloved ballpark, the untold story of how Fenway Park came to be and its remarkable first season. 1912 was a leap year, the year the Titanic sank, and it was also the year baseballs original shrine, the one and only Fenway Park, was born. While the paint was still drying, the infield grass still coming in, the Red Sox embarked on an unlikely season that culminated in a World Series battle against the Giants that stands as one of the greatest ever played.
Fenway 1912 tells the incredible story of Fenway, from the unorthodox blueprint that underlies the parks notorious quirks, to the long winter when locals poured concrete and erected history, to the notorious fixers who then ruled the game, to the ragtag team who delivered a world championship, Fenways first.
For all that has been written in tribute to the great Fenway Park, no one has ever really told the behind-the-scenes true story of its tumultuous yet glorious first year. Drawing on extensive new research, the esteemed baseball historian Glenn Stout delivers an extraordinary tale of innovation, desperation, and perspiration - capturing Fenway as never before.
Synopsis
The definitive narrative history of the worldand#8217;s greatest sporting franchise and#160; and#160; For more than 100 years, the New York Yankees have dominated baseball as no team ever has, in any sport. They have provided the very definition of a dynasty. Pinstripes and pennants. Aprils and Octobers. The House That Ruth Built in the city that never sleeps. A century of greatness embodied in one city and its team. But it hasn't always been that way, and it has never been easy. Yankees Century is the full history of this storied franchise, with the most compelling and authoritative narrative of the team ever written, more than 250 stunning photographs, and essays by the game's colorful scribes. On an unforgettable journey through time, you'll read about the unlikely scheme to build a ballpark in Manhattan atop solid rock, the magic of the Bambino rounding the bases, the stately DiMaggio taking the field, Lou Gehrig's poignant goodbye, Yogi Berra's hilarious verbal gaffes, Jack Chesbro's legendary spitball, Derek Jeter's mind-bending plays, and much more.
Synopsis
The definitive narrative history of the Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs have won the hearts of generations of fans, even if they havenand#8217;t always won those pivotal games. They were Americaand#8217;s most successful baseball club at the turn of the twentieth century, but by the turn of the twenty-first, things had changed. The Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908, and the last time they clinched the National League Pennant was in 1945. Yet the Cubs have some of the most devoted fans in all of sport. As Glenn Stout writes in the introduction, and#147;They are the gameand#8217;s last unsolved mystery, the final conundrum, a historical enigma, baseballand#8217;s oldest story, with an ending that has yet to be written.and#8221; The Cubs chronicles the long, rich, counterintuitive history of this team in all its depth, nuance, and color. We catch a rare glimpse of the early days of Chicago baseball in the 1860s and 1870s and witness the magical 1906 season, with its 116 wins, still the most in major league history. Ernie Banksand#8217;s legendary career is covered in detail, as are decisive seasons, such as 1969and#8217;s heartbreaking loss to the Amazinand#8217; Mets. Sammy Sosaand#8217;s sixty-plus home runs are here too and#151; together with later allegations regarding corked bats and steroids. The authors cast an analytical eye on the tumultuous reign of chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley and his son Philip, as well as the Tribune Company's planned sale of the Cubs. And we hear the true story behind the and#147;Curse of the Billy Goatand#8221; and#151; what has really and#147;cursedand#8221; the Cubs all these years.
A must-have for Cubs fans past and present, The Cubs tells the complete story in a single narrative for the first time since 1945.
Synopsis
In 1926, before skirt lengths inched above the knee and before anyone was ready to accept that a woman could test herself physically, a plucky American teenager named Trudy Ederle captured the imagination of the world when she became the first woman to swim the English Channel. It was, and still is, a feat more incredible and uncommon than scaling Mount Everest. Upon her return to the United States, "Trudy of America" became the most famous woman in the world. And just as quickly, she disappeared from the public eye. Set against the backdrop of the roaring 1920s,
Young Woman and the Sea is the dramatic and inspiring story of Ederles pursuit of a goal no one believed possible, and the price she paid. The moment Trudy set foot on land, triumphant, she had shattered centuries of stereotypes and opened doors for generations of women to come. A truly magnetic and often misunderstood character whose story is largely forgotten, Trudy Ederle comes alive in these pages through Glenn Stouts exhaustive new research.
Synopsis
Dodgers. The word conjures different things to different people, but its distinction and#151; and notoriety and#151; is universal. In the annals of baseball, the history of few other teams can compare to the rich legacy of the Dodgers. Their constituency includes fans from Bensonhurst to Burbank. Their colorful past and#151; and#147;dem bums,and#8221; Jackie Robinson and the boys of summer, Walter Oand#8217;Malley, Sandy Koufax, Tommy Lasorda, and#147;bleeding Dodger blueand#8221; and#151; has enlivened baseball in innumerable, immeasurable ways. And their legacy, casting a 120-year shadow, remains essential to the very nature of the game.
In a compelling, insightfully written narrative and more than two hundred unforgettable photographs, many never before seen, The Dodgers: 120 Years of Dodgers Baseball tells the team's story in its entirety, from its birth in Brooklyn in 1884 and its early glories, to the heart-wrenching move to Los Angeles in 1958, to the present day. The Dodgers' evolution, and particularly their willingness to embrace change even when it was a wildly unpopular choice, is also, writes Glenn Stout in his introduction, and#147;an inherently American story that follows a familiar path, a story of immigration, assimilation, migration, and change.and#8221; In one of the only books to look at the team as a unified whole, we see how the Dodgers helped create modern baseball in Brooklyn, how they ushered the game into its contemporary form with the signing of Jackie Robinson in 1945, and how they have borne witness to the metamorphosis of baseball from an amateur game played by gentlemen into a multibillion-dollar business. It's all here, a century and more of history-making baseball. In these pages, readers will experience some of the game's finest moments, greatest plays, and most unforgettable players, including
and#149; the birth of the and#147;Trolley Dodgersand#8221; in an unlikely borough and#149; a legendary series of stirring pennant races in the late 1940s and 1950s and#149; Jackie Robinson and the integration of baseball and#149; the notorious move from East Coast to West at the hands of the much-maligned Walter Oand#8217;Malley and#149; the reemergence of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry in California and#149; the game's most dynamic pitching duo, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale and#149; Kirk Gibsonand#8217;s dramatic home run in the 1988 World Series * and lively essays by such heralded Dodger chroniclers as Dave Anderson, Jane Leavy, Bill Plaschke, Dick Young, and others
About the Author
GLENN STOUTandnbsp;is the author of Young Woman and the Seaandnbsp;and Fenway 1912.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xv Introduction xvii
1867and#150;1897 The Captainand#8217;s Club 3
1898and#150;1905 and#147;Trio of Bear Cubsand#8221; 29
1906and#150;1908 Peerless 47
1909and#150;1918 Dynastyand#8217;s End 73
1919and#150;1925 Wrigley In and Wriggling Away 97
1926and#150;1931 And the Last Shall Be First 115
1932and#150;1938 Lights Out 141 Neverland by Richard A. Johnson 152
1939and#150;1945 War Stories 173
1946and#150;1953 Doormats 197 Cubs at Wrigley by William Nack 204
1954and#150;1965 Mr. Cub 223
1966and#150;1968 Here Comes the Sun 249
1969and#150;1971 A Series of Swoons 265
1972and#150;1981 Trials and Tribune-lations 289 A Summer at Wrigley Field by Rick Telander 292 It Was Wrigley, Not Some Goat, Who Cursed Cubs by Mike Royko 310
1981and#150;1984 Big Shoulders 319
1985and#150;1994 Days of Grace and Disgrace 345 The Joke Goes On Forever by John Schulian 362
1995and#150;1998 Say It Ainand#8217;t So, Sammy . . . 375 The Meaning of Cubness by Scott Turow 380
1999and#150;2006 CubsWin!!! . . . Doh! 399 Thereand#8217;s No Crying in Baseball by Penny Marshall 414
Appendix A: The Cubsand#8217; Annual Record 431 Appendix B: All-Time Cubs Teams 437 Index 445