Synopses & Reviews
Those fortunate fans who attended Opening Day on August 18, 1910 could not have had the slightest inkling that their brand new stadium would one day be the oldest active professional ballpark in America. Nor could they have possibly imagined how dramatically baseball would transform itself over the course of a century. Back then there were no high-powered agents, no steroids dominating the sports headlines, no gleaming, billion-dollar stadiums with corporate sky boxes that lit up the neon sky. There was only the wood and the raw hide, the mitt and the cap, and the game as it was played a few miles from downtown Birmingham, Alabama. Allen Barra has journeyed to his native Alabama to capture the glories of a century of baseball lore. In chronicling Rickwood Field's history, he also tells of segregated baseball and the legendary Negro Leagues while summoning the ghosts of the players themselves --Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Ted Willians, and Willie Mays -- who still haunt baseball's oldest Cathedral. But Rickwood Field, a place where the Ku Klux Klan once held rallies, has now become a symbol of hope and triumph, a stadium that reflects the evolution of a city where baseball was, for decades, virtually the sole connecting point between blacks and whites. While other fabled stadiums have yielded to the wrecker's ball, baseball's Garden of Eden seems increasingly invulnerable to the ravages of time. Indeed, the manually operated scoreboard still uses numbers painted on metal sheets, and on the right field wall, the Burma Shave sign hangs just as it did when the legendary Black Barons called the stadium their own. Not surprisingly, there is no slick or artificial turf here, only grass - and it's been trodden by the cleats of greats from Shoeless Joe Jackson to Reggie Jackson. Drawing on extensive interviews, best-selling author Barra evokes a southern city once rife with racial tension where a tattered ballpark was, and resplendently still is, a rare beacon of hope. Both a relic of America's past and a guidepost for baseball's future, follows the evolution of a nation and its pastime through our country's oldest active ballpark.
Review
"Everyone raves about Fenway and Wrigley, but Rickwood Field puts them both to shame. Allen Barra paints the corner with Maddux-like precision and brings an untold slice of American baseball history to my younger generation." Zack Hample, author of Watching Baseball Smarter
Review
"One of America's most insightful and precise sportswriters." David Maraniss, author of Clemente
Review
"A grand slam! Stunningly brilliant. Barra captures the historic nature of Rickwood Field by bringing history to life in a breathtakingly poignant fashion." Paul Finebaum, host of The Paul Finebaum Radio Network
Review
andquot;Roberts Ehrgott has written a graceful, engrossing account of an era in which the Cubs, while already falling short of winning the World Series, built a national following in the age of flash, flappers, mobsters, molls, bank runs and breadlines.andquot;andmdash;Scott Simon, Chicago Tribune
Review
andquot;The Second City couldn't get enough of this team of assorted alcoholics, teetotalers, brawlers, carousers, fitness buffs and gamblers that captured two pennants and featured numerous eventual Hall of Famers. . . . An absolute must for any baseball fan's library.andquot;andmdash;Kirkus starred review
Review
andquot;A fun read . . . full of anecdote and color. Recommended for fans of the Cubs or Chicago or baseball history.andquot;andmdash;Library Journal
Review
andquot;What sets the book apart from many set in baseball is how Roberts Ehrgott handles the context in which the fun and games transpired. In the '20s, Chicago was certainly the Cubs, but it was also Al Capone, and, as Ehrgott writes, andquot;Chicagoans venturing to other parts of the country and abroad learned that their city was becoming a byword for mayhem and violence.andquot; . . . Chicago's dizzy baseball hopes and dreams seem especially poignant against the background of the onset of the Great Depression.andquot;andmdash;Bill Littlefield, Boston Globe
Review
"[Mr. Wrigley's Ball Club] is a smartly written, well-researched look at the Cubs from 1925 to 1932."and#8212;Bob D'Angelo, Tampa Tribune
Review
andquot;Roberts Ehrgott takes us back to the days when the Cubs were kings and Chicago was a growing, thrilling, dangerous melting pot of Al Capone, speakeasies, andquot;flappersandquot; and vaudeville in his meticulously researched and extremely well crafted new book.andquot;andmdash;Terry Keshner, Seamheads
Synopsis
While America has changed dramatically over the last hundred years, Rickwood Field, the pride of Birmingham, Alabama, has remained fixed in time. Best-selling baseball writer Allen Barra journeyed to his native Alabama to capture the glories of a century of baseball lore. In chronicling the history of Rickwood Field, where the manually operated scoreboard still uses numbers painted on metal sheets, Barra also tells of segregated baseball, the vaunted Negro Leagues, and captures the ghosts of the players themselves, including Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Satchel Paige, and Willie Mays. Evoking such classics as Shoeless Joeand The Boys of Summer, Barra recalls not only a simpler, bygone era but also a city rife with racial tension and abject poverty, where a tattered ballpark was, and still is, a rare beacon of hope. Indeed, Barra skillfully convinces us that the histories of Rickwood Field, baseball, and the American south are inextricably bound together.
Synopsis
Allen Barra has journeyed to his native Alabama to capture the glories of a century of baseball lore. In chronicling Rickwood Field s history, he also tells of segregated baseball and the legendary Negro Leagues while summoning the ghosts of the players themselves Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Ted Willians, and Willie Mays who still haunt baseball s oldest Cathedral. But Rickwood Field, a place where the Ku Klux Klan once held rallies, has now become a symbol of hope and triumph, a stadium that reflects the evolution of a city where baseball was, for decades, virtually the sole connecting point between blacks and whites While other fabled stadiums have yielded to the wrecker s ball, baseball s Garden of Eden seems increasingly invulnerable to the ravages of time. Indeed, the manually operated scoreboard still uses numbers painted on metal sheets, and on the right field wall, the Burma Shave sign hangs just as it did when the legendary Black Barons called the stadium their own. Not surprisingly, there is no slick or artificial turf here, only grass and it s been trodden by the cleats of greats from Shoeless Joe Jackson to Reggie Jackson. Drawing on extensive interviews, best-selling author Barra evokes a southern city once rife with racial tension where a tattered ballpark was, and resplendently still is, a rare beacon of hope. Both a relic of America s past and a guidepost for baseball s future, Rickwood Field follows the evolution of a nation and its pastime through our country s oldest active ballpark. "
Synopsis
The extraordinary social history of Rickwood Field is the story of baseball itself, gloriously evoked for the centennial of America's oldest ballpark.
Synopsis
Babe Ruth, John McGraw, Rogers Hornsby, Lou Gehrig, Lefty Grove, Dizzy Dean, Joe DiMaggio, Casey Stengel, Yogi Berra, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Hank Aaron, Carl Yastremski, Ernie Banks, Harmon Killebrew, "Cool Papa" Bell, Josh Gibson, Sandy Koufax, Roberto Clemente, Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Honus Wagner, and Grover Cleveland Alexander. Best-selling sports historian Allan Barra takes us on an unforgettable journey to Birmingham, Alabama, where America's oldest ballpark, would look--were it not for the new paint job--almost identical to when the gates first opened almost a century ago. Evoking such classics as and recalls a simpler, bygone era when a weathered ballpark was, and still is, a rare beacon of hope.
Synopsis
Chicago in the Roaring Twenties was a city of immigrants, mobsters, and flappers with one shared passion: the Chicago Cubs. It all began when the chewing-gum tycoon William Wrigley decided to build the worldand#8217;s greatest ball club in the nationand#8217;s Second City. In this Jazz Age center, the maverick Wrigley exploited the revolutionary technology of broadcasting to attract eager throngs of women to his renovated ballpark.
Mr. Wrigleyand#8217;s Ball Club transports us to this heady era of baseball history and introduces the team at its crazy heartand#8212;an amalgam of rakes, pranksters, schemers, and choirboys who take center stage in memorable successes, equally memorable disasters, and shadowy intrigue. Readers take front-row seats to meet Grover Cleveland Alexander, Rogers Hornsby, Joe McCarthy, Lewis and#8220;Hackand#8221; Wilson, Gabby Hartnett. The cast of characters also includes their colorful if less-extolled teammates and the Cubsand#8217; nemesis, Babe Ruth, who terminates the ambitions of Mr. Wrigleyand#8217;s ball club with one emphatic swing.
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About the Author
Allen Barrais the best-selling author of The Last Coach: A Life of Paul "Bear" Bryantand Yogi Berra: Eternal Yankee. His writing appears regularly in the Wall Street Journal, the Village Voice, Playboy, Interview, and Salon. He lives in South Orange, New Jersey.