Babe Ruth

by Jim Reisler

Book Overview

Between World War I, the Black Sox scandal, and a dearth of home runs, many people thought that 1920 would be the beginning of the end of baseball. Sure, George Herman Ruth had excelled as a pitcher... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0071432442
• ISBN13: 9780071432443
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

A play-by-play look at the 1920 Yankees

Harry Frazee may have been a baseball baron, but he poured his heart and soul into Broadway productions. No one really ever solved the mystery of why he needed cash in 1919, but his name went down in history as the man who sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Frazee, an all but forgotten man by the masses, probably made the worst deal in the history of baseball. Ruth, who went on to become an American icon, only left one thing behind with the Red Sox . . . the "Curse of the Bambino," an epithet frequently discussed on street corners, in books, and magazine articles. Everyone had their opinion about the curse, many with mixed reactions, but one thing they did know was that "it was Ruth who would have the last laugh." (pg. 13) Mr. Frazee should have stuck with the Babe and baseball and left Broadway to New York. Babe's start with the Yankees was a bit lackluster, but soon he settled in and began to make his mark. The time was right for a great American hero to be made and he was going to step right up to the plate and prove his mettle. He could hit the ball out of the park with ease, he made for great "copy" with all the sportswriters, and was known for his generosity with children. No one really cared that he ate like a pig, flaunted authority and was "brash, vulgar, loud, and completely uninhibited." (pg. 21) Babe Ruth was a man who could do no wrong and he began to chalk up the stats to prove it. People began to jam the seats of the Polo Grounds just to get a glimpse of this phenomenon. Later they began to take their sons and grandsons so when they were wizened old men they could brag that they saw the home run king. "Baseball fever" had overtaken the nation and Babe seemed to be the center attraction. In this book we get a close up look at the team that made the man or, if one prefers looking at it in a different manner, the man who made the team. Wally Pipp, Del Pratt, Roger Peckinpaugh, Aaron Ward, Ping Bodie, Duffy Lewis, Muddy Ruel, Bob Meusel, Truck Hannah, and manager Miller Huggins. Of course there was that stable of pitchers, including the infamous Carl May, that "no-good head hunter." It was a lineup that any "leather-lunged" fan could well appreciate. The Times said that "Ruth cost the Yanks $125,000" and "if he has many days like [this one], he will bring that much into the doctors' pockets treating laryngitis patients." (pg. 81) The day in reference caught the Babe homering and hammering the ball in what would soon become par for the course. No one could ever get enough of their hero. One of the most amazing things about this book was the intense play-by-play recreation of many, many games. It gives the reader a chance to get to know many of the fine players on the Yankees who were overshadowed by Ruth. I came away from the book with a good feel for some of the players, players I had never heard much about. Some like Mays, whom I probably would not have cared for then and now don't, but others I came to enjoy their game and personaliti

1920--A Pivotal Year in Baseball

While it is true 1920 is the year Babe Ruth began his assault on American League pitchers with his batting prowess as a member of the New York Yankees, the year also was known for the unraveling of the fixed 1919 World Series, the hiring of baseball's first commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, and the death of Cleveland Indians' shortstop Ray Chapman by one of Yankees' pitcher Carl Mays's submarine deliveries. It is often said the Babe's home run bat saved the game of baseball from the Black Sox Scandal, but people flocked to the park to see Ruth as a member of the Yankees in 1920 before the scandal broke in September of that year. The unfortunate death of Chapman is also dealt with in some detail. Carl Mays was a very unpopular player not only among rival players, but his own teammates as well. He was, however, absolved of any blame for intentionally hitting Chapman with the pitch. Mays won 26 games for the 1920 Yankees and compiled a better won lost record (209-126) than several Hall of Famers, but has been denied a place in baseball's hallowed halls. We are also provided with character profiles of Yankees' owners Colonel Jacob Rupert and Tillinghast "Cap" Huston, manager Miller Huggins, Judge Landis, White Sox owner Charles Comiskey, and American League President Ban Johnson. The hiring of Landis put an end to any power that Johnson wielded in the American League. Even though it didn't happen until 1925 the author also mentions the matter of Wally Pipp's famous "headache" which caused him to sit out a game and was replaced by Lou Gehrig in the lineup who remained there for the next 14 years. In reality, Pipp's "headache" was a fractured skull due to being hit with a pitched ball in a previous game. Ruth remains the main focus in the book with his introduction of a new type of baseball that made Giants' manager John McGraw and Ty Cobb scorn the new type of baseball the Babe was now introducing. Both McGraw and Cobb appeared to be jealous of the attention Ruth was commanding in the newspapers. This book tells you more about what some of baseball's principal characters were like during this time period. The author concludes the book with a "what became of" several of the principal characters. My only complaint about the book is that at times the book got into too much of a play-by-play on some of the games the author covered. I've read much of what is in this book in other volumes, but I still found it to be interesting reading.