Synopses & Reviews
In 1910 auto magnate Hugh Chalmers offered an automobile to the baseball player with the highest batting average that season. What followed was a batting race unlike any before or since, between the greatest but most despised hitter, Detroitand#8217;s Ty Cobb, and the American Leagueand#8217;s first superstar, Clevelandand#8217;s popular Napoleon Lajoie.
The Chalmers Race captures the excitement of this strange contestand#8212;one that has yet to be resolved.
and#160;The race came down to the last game of the season, igniting more interest among fans than the World Series and becoming a national obsession. Rick Huhn re-creates the drama that ensued when Cobb, thinking the prize safely his, skipped the last two games, and Lajoie suspiciously had eight hits in a doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns. Although initial counts favored Lajoie, American League president Ban Johnson, the sportand#8217;s last word, announced Cobb the winner, and amid the controversy both players received cars. The Chalmers Race details a story of dubious scorekeeping and statistical systems, of performances and personalities in conflict, of accurate results coming in seventy years too late, and of a contest settled not by play on the field but by human foibles.
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Review
"Frank, bitter, trend-setting autobiography."—USA Today Baseball Weekly USA Today Baseball Weekly
Review
"Highly successful in knitting together this story of the life of a most remarkable and dedicated player—perhaps the most spirited baseball player ever to have graced the diamond."—Library Journal Library Journal
Review
"Of Ty Cobb let it be said simply that he was the world's greatest ballplayer."—New York Herald Tribune (1961 editorial on Cobb's death) New York Herald Tribune
Review
"The old Tiger still spits and snarls off the pages."—Cooperstown Review Cooperstown Review
Review
"Of Ty Cobb let it be said simply that he was the worlds greatest ballplayer."-New York Herald Tribune (1961 editorial on Cobbs death)(New York Herald Tribune)
Review
"Frank, bitter, trend-setting autobiography."USA Today Baseball Weekly
Review
"One of the most remarkable sports books ever written."—Los Angeles Daily News Los Angeles Daily News
Review
"This book goes beyond baseball, also giving readers an understanding of America itself after the turn of the century. An excellent choice."and#8212;Library Journal starred review
Review
and#8220;It took more than a century, but weand#8217;ve finally got the book we deserve about baseballand#8217;s most infamous batting race. Thanks to Rick Huhn, it was worth the wait.and#8221;and#8212;Rob Neyer, national baseball editor of the website
Baseball Nation.com
Review
and#8220;With graceful writing and exhaustive research, Huhn gives life to one of baseballand#8217;s great untold stories.and#8221;and#8212;Jon Wertheim, senior writer for
Sports Illustrated
Review
and#8220;This is the kind of baseball history we need more ofand#8212;a book grounded in a great story, shaped by intelligent assessments of the evidence, committed to accuracy and truth-telling, and presented in vigorous prose.and#8221;and#8212;Reed Browning, author of
Cy Young: A Baseball Lifeand#160;
Review
and#8220;
The Chalmers Race seamlessly weaves its compelling stories and is a deftly told saga of a game-changing and living controversy.and#8221;and#8212;Gerald C. Wood, author of
Smoky Joe Wood: The Biography of a Baseball LegendAbout the Author
Rick Huhn is the author of
The Sizzler: George Sisler, Baseballand#8217;s Forgotten Great and
Eddie Collins: A Baseball Biography. Charles C. Alexander is the author of several baseball books, including
Ty Cobb.