Book Description
The headlines proclaimed the 1919 fix of the World Series and attempted cover-up as "the most gigantic sporting swindle in the history of America!" First published in 1963, Eight Men Out has become a timeless classic. Eliot Asinof has reconstructed the entire scene-by-scene story of the fantastic scandal in which eight Chicago White Sox players arranged with the nation's leading gamblers to throw the Series in Cincinnati. Mr. Asinof vividly describes the tense meetings, the hitches in the conniving, the actual plays in which the Series was thrown, the Grand Jury indictment, and the famous 1921 trial. Moving behind the scenes, he perceptively examines the motives and backgrounds of the players and the conditions that made the improbable fix all too possible. Here, too, is a graphic picture of the American underworld that managed the fix, the deeply shocked newspapermen who uncovered the story, and the war-exhausted nation that turned with relief and pride to the Series, only to be rocked by the scandal. Far more than a superbly told baseball story, this is a compelling slice of American history in the aftermath of World War I and at the cusp of the Roaring Twenties.
Customer Reviews:
The little guys took the fall........2007-05-24
I saw the movie, but the book explains in more detail the tragedy of the 1919 World Series White Sox (or Black Sox). This book details that the gamblers such as the Little Champ were the real villians in this fiasco. Commisky was also a cheap skate who payed his talented players peanuts and then expected them to win pennants. The victims were the ball players who all expected were rich (they were not) and got duped by a bunch of fast talking gamblers. Shoeless Joe Jackson comes across as a decent man trying to make a go of it in life. These talented people were out matched by more brilliant eastern money men.
This is a great read about the All American pastime. I came away with true respect for the ball players, although not the baseball clubs. This is a tragic story of eight talented players being out hustled by gamblers.
ocho men out........2006-03-13
Eliot Asinof does a very good job at retelling this famous world series game. This book grabs you and you stay hooked from the first word to the last, hearing about the day that the White Sox fixed the 1919 World Series. I highly recommend this great capture of the White Sox scandal game, especially for all of the baseball fans, and anyone who is not interested in baseball. It is a great read. This fixation of baseball came to be known "The Black Sox Scandal".
Chick Gandil a tough 31 year old man started this scandal and brought in other baseball team members including; Claude "Lefty" Williams, Fred McMullin, Charles "Swede" Riseberg, "Shoeless Joe Jackson, Oscar "Happy" Felsch, George "Buck" Weaver, and Eddie Cicotte. These 8 baseball players made history in the name of baseball, when getting involved with gamblers. With money on the line all of these baseball players are willing to try anything. The pressure and the pain of this baseball game is very interesting. Did they really think they could get away with this? What were they thinking? Well in this story Asinof tells all that and more. By explaining each intense moment to the next you stay hooked.
Required Reading.......2006-03-09
I teach a course to high school seniors called Baseball in American Society. (2nd semester). We use Eight Men Out as one of the required readings. Comparing controversies that have happened in baseball over the years is part of the syllabus and the 1919 Black Sox scandal fits right in.
Great Book for the Baseball Fan - Everything you wanted to know about The Black Sox Scandal........2005-12-24
I just completed "Eight Men Out" and I thought that the book was very interesting because of its vivid description of the "Black Sox Scandal." Instead of dealing with the use of steroids, early 20th century baseball battled constant corruption through the influence of gambling. "Eight Men Out" describes how gamblers, not the ball players were the most important figures in professional baseball, and how difficult it was for the typical fan to realize their fixes and for professional baseball to eliminate their influence. Today's baseball fans should definitely skim through the book. If you are looking for a sports book to read, and you are particularly interested in baseball, you should try this book because it is a phenomenal story of one of the most important eras in baseball history. Overall, it's a quick read and very informative. I would also suggest "Boys of Summer," and "Ball Four" if you are interested in reading about baseball.
Time to Bury the Black Sox.......2005-10-28
Now White Sox is World Series Champions again, it's time to bury the eight men forever from our memories.
Book Description
Most fans today know that gamblers and ballplayers conspired to “fix” the 1919 World Series—the Black Sox Scandal. It has been touched upon in classic works of sports history such as Eliot Asinof’s Eight Men Out, referred to in literary classics like W. P. Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe, and has been central to two of the best baseball movies ever made, John Sayles’s Eight Men Out and Phil Robinson’s Field of Dreams.
Many, however, would be surprised to learn that it took nearly a year to uncover the fix. Burying the Black Sox is the first book to focus on the cover-up that kept the fix from the American public until almost another whole baseball season was played, and to examine in detail the way events unfolded as the deception was unraveled. Unlike Eliot Asinof in Eight Men Out, previously the definitive book on the subject, Carney thoroughly documents his information and brings together evidence from a wide variety of sources, many not available to Asinof or more recent writers.
In Burying the Black Sox, Gene Carney reveals what else happened and answers the questions that fascinate any baseball fan wondering about baseball’s original dilemma over guilt and innocence. Who else in baseball knew that the fix was in? When did they know? And what did they do about it? Carney explores how Charles Comiskey, the owner of the White Sox, and his fellow owners tried to bury the incident and control the damage, how the conspiracy failed, and how “Shoeless” Joe Jackson attempted to clear his name. He uses primary research materials that weren’t available when Asinof wrote Eight Men Out, including the 1920 grand jury statements by Jackson and pitcher Eddie Cicotte, the diary of Comiskey’s secretary, and the transcripts of Jackson’s 1924 suit against the Sox for back pay. Where Asinof told the story of the eight “Black Sox,” Carney explains the baseball industry’s uncertain response to the scandal.
Customer Reviews:
chicago black sox.......2007-09-21
very interesting it had a lot of new material but not what im looking for. i want to find out more on possible gambeling on college football 1925 1940. more information on jake lingle and his killer leo v brothers and notre dame football.
the best book on the black sox.......2007-08-04
Gene Carney has done a first-rate job not only mining previous research but finding new material on baseball's blackest moment. While he concedes that not everything will ever be known about the scandal, given the difficulties of time and memory, this book reads with authority. Its special strength, as the title hints, is in the detail about organized baseball's attempt to bury the scandal. Thanks to Carney, more of this part of the story is now known than ever before. Highly recommended.
Well-researched and informative .......2007-06-21
Author Gene Carney carefully examines the sordid doings of players, gamblers, and baseball officials in the 1919 Black Sox scandal. The players include the guilty (Eddie Ciccotte, Lefty Williams, Chick Gandil, etc.), the essentially innocent Buck Weaver, and the possibly complicit Shoeless Joe Jackson. But Carney is more concerned with the scandalous activities of White Sox owner Charles Comiskey and other self-serving baseball officials. To begin, Comiskey inspired the scandal by under-paying his talented athletes. Carney shows that Comiskey almost certainly knew that the World Series was fixed while it was ongoing, covering it up for nearly a year before the story broke. Readers see how Comiskey and his attorney manipulated events and even illegally hid court documents. Finally, we see how after the eight players were acquitted in trial, newly-appointed commissioner Kenesaw Landis banned them from baseball, thus neatly diverted attention from the many sordid ties then existing between gamblers, players, and baseball officials. As many know, the players were punished (at least one unfairly), while the gamblers and baseball officials got off practically unscathed.
Carney has done an impressive and scholarly job, though his prose never attains the poetry of EIGHT MEN OUT, Elliot Asinof's also-impressive 1963 effort. Still, there is much to learn here from an author who did his homework and answers as many perplexing questions as seems possible.
The culmination (sort of) of a ton of research.......2007-02-06
I have been a regular reader of Gene Carney's online column for some time, though my reading his column was one of the casualties of the circumstances of my overly-busy life for a while. So I was glad when the book came out and purchased it as soon as was convenient. I almost literally couldn't put it down. I knew from his column that he was making every attempt to give all parties the fairest treatment possible from the distance of 85+ years, so no aspect of the book surprised me much. Still, the depth of the research is impressive, and it was nice to have it all in one place rather than spread over dozens of online columns. Kudos to Carney for putting the finishing touches on this new, fresh look at a controversy that far too many people think was settled with Landis's "eight men out" verdict. Yet, I also am aware that Carney's research continues even beyond the book. If a second edition comes out at some point that includes things that Carney has learned since the publishing of this volume, I'll be up for purchasing that, too.
Baseball's Web of Conspiracy.......2007-01-31
A review by Pete Cava:
The Web of Conspiracy, Theodore Roscoe's meticulously researched 1959 book, left many readers wondering if the complete truth about the Lincoln assassination would ever be known. Gene Carney's tome about the fixing of the 1919 World Series, Burying the Black Sox, reaches a similar conclusion.
Over the decades, some of the best and brightest have taken a whack at undoing the Gordian knot of gamblers, corruption and dubiously motivated magnates involved in the Black Sox scandal. Since 1963 the definitive work has been Eliot Asinov's Eight Men Out. But Carney gleaned evidence that wasn't available to Asinov, including court transcripts of a 1924 trial in Milwaukee (where Joe Jackson, in a lawsuit against the White Sox, maintained his innocence); excerpts from the personal diary of Harry Grabiner (de facto general manager of the White Sox in 1919) and a gambling publication called Collyer's Eye, which accurately identified seven of the eight Black Sox (all but Buck Weaver) in November 1919 - ten months before the story of the fix made headlines.
Exploring degrees of guilt, Carney points out how Jackson, Weaver, Chick Gandil and Swede Risberg didn't play equal parts in the fix. Weaver's greatest sin appears to be a reluctance to squeal on teammates - ironically, the same course of action followed by several `clean' Chicago players.
Carney takes a hard look at the actions and motives of major league baseball owners in the wake of the scandal. "Justice was judged to be less important than the game's image," he writes - an unsettling reminder of the current moguls' attitude at the outset of the recent steroid flap. Carney charges baseball with trying to ignore (and subsequently cover up) the story of the scandal - perhaps as great a sin as the Series fix itself.
If the book has a fault, it's an occasional didactic tone that could have been tempered by more careful editing. But Carney (who is also a poet and playwright) more than atones with a wonderfully creative recap of the scandal that takes the format of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First" routine.
As Leonard Koppett pointed out, baseball, like life, prefers simple stories to complicated explanations. And while Burying the Black Sox provides new details, the book raises even more questions on the scandal and subsequent cover-up. Carney tempers this honest (albeit frustrating) conclusion with the hope that somewhere - in the recesses of a dusty storeroom, or perhaps tucked among some forgotten and misplaced file - are documents that will shed further light on one of the most unsavory, yet irresistible, chapters of baseball history.
- Pete Cava
Book Description
Over the last 40 years, Richard Roeper has attended White Sox games, watching as his team established a losing streak that was almost unparalleled in Major League Baseball history. In this account of what it was like to grow up a White Sox fan in a Cubs nation, Roeper covers the recent history of the organization, from the heartbreak of 1967 and the South-Side Hit Men to the disco demolition and the magical 2005 season when they became world champions. Encapsulating what it means to be a baseball fan, root for the same sorry team no matter what, and find vindication, this history of the White Sox is flavored with trivia; anecdotes about players, owners, and broadcasters; plus Roeper’s own humorous and personal reminiscences.
Customer Reviews:
Sox Rule!.......2007-04-05
Fantastic recap of decades of Sox lore! This book was a quick and interesting read, containing trivia, stats, and facts all interwoven with personal anecdotes and memories. Terrific for new or old fans - a must have for all who know and love the Sox!
A True Sox Fan's Book.......2007-02-02
"Sox and the City" is a great read for any baseball lover, but particularly White Sox fans. They say that as a baseball fan you are wedded to one team for life, and live and die with them each season. Or to paraphrase one of those east coast baseball fans, baseball is not life or death, but the [White] Sox are!
"Sox and the City" will most interest Chicagosns, of course. But all baseball fans might enjoy it. After all, being a White Sox fan in a city with more than one team, and an ancient generational rivalry (I won't name that OTHER team) is an experience few living baseball fans still know. the annual highs and lows (and finally triumph) that made the suffering all worth it. Only perhaps New Yorkers share the experience (and even the New York Mets are stand-ins for the old Yankees-Dodgers-Giants rivalry).
If you love baseball, pick this one up!
Great look at White Sox baseball.......2007-01-07
Give movie critic Richard Roeper "Two Thumbs Up" for this upbeat look at rooting for the White Sox in a city where the more-popular Cubs have the advantage. Roeper describes his lifelong attachment to the Sox, recalling past baseball games, seasons, players, etc. He shows that the underdog White Sox typically draw smaller crowds and less media to their plainer arena on the city's non-glamorous South Side - add losing seasons to that mix and you can see why the Sox nearly moved to Milwaukee (1968), Seattle (1975), Denver (1980) and Florida (1988). Ironically, these hardships and the fortitude of Sox fans to endure them are rarely mentioned by a national media that fixates on the big-money Cubs and other glamour teams. Roeper concludes by describing part of the magical 2005 season, when the White Sox finally broke through and won the World Series - their first title in 88 years! That triumph cheered Chicago's long-suffering fans and attracted much-desired national attention.
This lively and often humorous narrative could have been longer than 197 fast-reading pages. I felt the author underestimated how many people in Chicago root hard for both teams, but this is still an entertaining read for baseball fans here and across the nation.
Entertaining Book, Even if You are not a Sox Fan.......2007-01-03
Richard Roeper gives an entertaining overview of his love for the Chicago White Sox while adding interesting anecdotes about life in Chicago and in general.
As a fellow White Sox fan, I found this book to be right on the money in explaining why Chicago became a Cubs town even when the Sox had a better team (poor judgement by Sox management and changing neighborhoods).
Roeper shows his love for the White Sox and handles the subject with objectivity (when possible, given that he is a die-hard fan).
The Sox Won The Series in '05 - Can Sox Fans Stop Being Defensive Now?.......2006-12-26
First off, this is a great book written from a Sox fan's point of view. Lots of personal memories and a great opinions of Sox history.
I was never a baseball fan until I moved to NW Indiana in March of 2006. That's when I started working for a company that gave away tickets to White Sox games. My dad was never a baseball fan until he had hernia surgery back when the Cubs were making a run in '03. Go figure, he had just moved to Missouri the year before, you would have thought he would have been a Cardinals fan, like my brother-in-law, who like me, moved to the St. Louis area about 5 years ago and became instantly interested in the Cardinals. Regardless of these two family members, I still was not sold on baseball.
But when someone hands you free tickets to a game, and you can watch all of the games on your TV? It was hard not to get sucked in.
Even though, I noticed as I went to the games, many defensive White Sox fans with CUBS S%CK shirts on and the like. Can we just say that the Sox are the better team since they made it last year and be done with it?
Roeper's book goes over being "the second team in the second city" and he explains how this happens in the late 80's, when WGN became a Superstation, and Cubs games were then broadcast nationwide. What Roeper never got to experience, though, was as a boy growing up in the late 70's in eastern Iowa, we got WGN on our cable station, and being babysat, we occasionally would find WGN and the Cubs on in the afternoon. Who knows how this has influenced the minds of many a young boy to become a Cubs fan. Someone should have called Child Services.
This is a great book, it brought to me the excitement of a die-hard fan, who was grateful for his team finally winning the world series. There are excellent examples of how White Sox fans could have easily cried "curse" much like Red Sox or Cubs fans, but are more down to earth. I especially liked his take on John Cusack calling Reinsdorf for game tickets. Cub fan...
It's a quick read, and should give anybody an idea of what it's like to be a fan of the Chicago White Sox.
Book Description
The Chicago White Sox are one of baseball's most vibrant and beloved franchises, and everything you need to know about them is in White Sox Essential: the clutch hitters, the dominating pitchers, and the memorable flakes. Looking for a handy reference for milestones in White Sox history? It's here, as are the greatest moments and biggest disappointments, the biggest goats and heroes, and all the personalities that make the Pale Hose such an endearing and captivating club. Included are the remarkable moments that made the Hall of Fame legends Eddie Collins, Luke Appling, Early Wynn, Luis Aparicio, Nellie Fox, and Carlton Fisk, and current stars Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, and Jermaine Dye. They're all here, in a fun, fact-filled compilation of White Sox history.
Customer Reviews:
A review from a real fan.......2007-05-08
Excellent anecdotal history for the real fan or just casual baseball fan.
Book Description
After nearly 90 years of playing in the shadows of the biggest scandal in baseball history, the Chicago White Sox broke through in 2005 with their first World Series championship since 1917. Their triumph ended decades of suffering for their loyal fans, and it also put the franchise's unique historical impact on the game of baseball back into the spotlight. Total White Sox is the definitive work about this legendary franchise and its place in the history of our national pastime.
Customer Reviews:
Total White Sox.......2007-02-22
This is a must for every real White Sox fan.
Unfortunately, no color photos but the resarch and format are excellent.
Total, yes TOTAL White Sox...........2007-01-20
Awesome book for the Sox lover. Great history, stats and world series coverage facts.
Outstanding update of 1997's White Sox Encyclopedia.......2006-11-15
I still have my copy of the original White Sox Encyclopedia and over the years I've enjoyed leafing through it and discovering countless facts, figures and items of interest regarding the history of the Chicago White Sox. This worthy update comes hot off the heels of their 2005 World Series championship, and even if you have the original you'll definitely want to have a copy of TOTAL WHITE SOX in your collection. Virtually everything from the original is here (the only items I've noticed that were not carried over are the color memorabilia photographs), and the season-by-season summaries, statistical information and player profiles have been brought up-to-date quite nicely, plus there are many more additional photographs encompassing the nine seasons since the original volume was published.
One word of caution: as much as I love this book, I had to deduct one star from my overall rating. While reading the summary of the 2005 World Series I came across a glaring factual error regarding the final out of the decisive Game 4 (page 532): "Orlando Palmeiro then grounded out UNASSISTED to Paul Konerko, who, for the second time in the post-season, stuffed the souvenir ball into his pocket." The final out was actually a softly hit ball chopped over the head of pitcher Bobby Jenks, shortstop Juan Uribe charged the ball and fired it to first baseman Paul Konerko, enabling the Sox to win their first World Series in 88 years. Considering the magnitude of that final out, I am somewhat surprised that this mistake made its way into print, but that error notwithstanding TOTAL WHITE SOX is a beautiful volume no White Sox fan should be without!
Average customer rating:
|
Dreaming Baseball (Writing Sports)
James T. Farrell
Manufacturer: Kent State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Farrell, James T.
| ( F )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
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Sports
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
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The Chicago White Sox (Writing Sports)
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The Gashouse Gang: How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch Rickey, Pepper Martin, and Their Colorful, Come-from-Behind Ball Club Won the World Series--and America's Heart--During the Great Depression
ASIN: 0873388976 |
Book Description
Longtime White Sox fan and historian, Paul Whitfield, takes the rich tradition of the White Sox and presents the legend and lore in brief, through quotes, humor, facts, figures and memories. A lot of ChiSox history in a little package!
Customer Reviews:
Enjoyable little conversation book chock full of White Sox fun facts.......2005-12-18
Fun read, lots of interesting quotes tied in with trivia and fun facts encompassing White Sox history... can't go wrong here!
Book Description
In 1906, the baseball world saw something that had never been done. Two teams from the same city squared off against each other in an intracity World Series, pitting the heavily favored Cubs of the National League against the hardscrabble American League champion White Sox. Now, for its centennial anniversary, noted historian Bernard A. Weisberger tells the tale of a unique time in baseball, a unique time in America, and a time when Chicago was at the center of it all.
At the turn of the century, American baseball and America itself were, to a modern observer, both completely alien and yet timelessly similar to what we know today. In 1906 the sport of baseball was still mired in the "dead ball" era, when defense won championships, and players didn't need bodybuilder physiques in order to be competitive. The league was racially segregated. A six-day workweek was threatened by early game times, as the first night game wouldn't be played for another three decades. There was no radio to broadcast the contest. Only one ball was used throughout the game. And yet it was still ninety feet between bases. The home team still batted in the bottom of the ninth inning. And the final score could still capture the attention of a nation.
It was a time when the accomplishments on the field mirrored those beyond the diamond. America was the land of the self-made man, the land where hard work and determination could make a person's fortune. A. G. Spalding proved instrumental in making baseball what it is today -- a thriving business and a national pastime. Charles Comiskey worked his way from scoring runs as a player to becoming one of the most influential owners in baseball history. Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown overcame a horribly disfiguring injury to become a Hall of Fame pitcher for the Cubs. And Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance proved that you could use teamwork to stand out as stars.
A city that had rebuilt itself from the ashes of the Great Fire thirty-five years earlier was now the focal point of an entire baseball-loving country. The contest that could be called the Great Streetcar Series would electrify the city of Chicago, and prove to be one of the most unique and exciting World Series ever to be played.
Customer Reviews:
Chicago vs. Chicago.......2007-05-09
Long before the bitter rivalry evolved into its current state, the White Sox and Cubs met in the 1906 World Series. The city was entranced by the series. At the time, the event seemed as though it could be a regular occurence, but it turned out to be a novelty. Being that professional baseball was still in its embryonic stages, not a lot of information exists about the series. For this reason, Weisberger did a commendable job researching this third World Series.
Much like life in 1906, baseball was much different then. Players often held other jobs and were often more accessable to the public. I appreciate Weisberger taking time to discuss the evolution of baseball that led toward the 1906 series. I found it really added to the story. Much of the information is gathered through newspaper archives which were surprisingly telling. The afterword, in which he talks about the players' fates after the series, was perhaps the most revealing. I was surprised by the short lives lived by many of the players though they did live in a world with poorer quality medical treatment. The background on many of the players does not come until the last chapter.
Some of the other reviews are more critical of the book than me. The book is too short, though I might suggest this is because information is sparse. However my appreciation is seen through the eyes of a White Sox fan, so I may not be entirely objective.
Compelling subject matter rates 4 stars for Sox & Cubs fans; fewer for others.......2006-08-20
Having recently moved to Chicago and become a White Sox rooter during their Cinderella season of 2005, I eagerly anticipated using Bernard Weisberger's "When Chicago Ruled Baseball" as a means of introducing myself to the history of the city's two storied franchises. Certainly, the subject matter the book covers is worthy of a treatise, as the 1906 World Series between the Sox and Cubs was noteworthy from multiple perspectives. The book's compelling subject matter kept my interest, but if Weisberger had taken more time to polish his prose and delve into more detail, the book could have been much better.
To his credit, Weisberger puts the 1906 World Series into historical perspective, and uses it as a springboard to discuss other important related subjects, including a portrait of turn-of-the-century Chicago (the 1906 World Series was just 35 years after the great Chicago fire); the genesis and formative early years of the major professional baseball leagues; and the formation of Chicago's two major league ball clubs (the original White Stockings who became the Cubs, and the upstart American League's White Sox). Each of these topics in and of itself is worthy of a book, and indeed Weisberger relies upon and cites several primary source books. So, "When Chicago Ruled Baseball" provides a surface-level overview of these subjects, along with game descriptions of the actual contests, drawn from newspaper accounts.
It left me wishing for more. If Weisberger had delivered 284 pages of prose instead of 184 he would have been able to delve more deeply into each of the major subject areas, other than the game descriptions (lacking an audio or visual record of the games, there is only so much that can be perused from newspaper write-ups). My other major complaint is that the writing was unpolished and flat at times.
"When Chicago Ruled Baseball" will be most appealing to, no surprise here, Sox and Cubs fans who don't already know the early history of their teams and their World Series appearances. That described me, so I am glad I read the book. Others might want to proceed cautiously, or choose to read one of the books that Weisberger relied upon.
Boots and bungles.......2006-04-14
I was really looking forward to this book, because I believe each World Series, especially in the deadball era should be recorded for history with a scholarly account.
Unfortunately the 1906 White Sox- Cubs series still awaits that account.
Potential readers expecting a book of the same standard as Louis P. Masur's Autumn Glory or Roger I. Abrams The First World Series, both about the 1903 World Series will be sorely disappointed by this effort.
I got the impression that parts of the book were rushed out after the White Sox won the 2005 series and were not written by Bernard Weisberger, but by a TV script writer. I find it hard to believe that a "distinguished teacher and author of American History" and "one of the best historians on earth" could write in the following style.
"It was a great double play of the balletlike kind that makes baseball glow, and like Evers great pickup in the first, it stopped the hemorrhaging. But four more runs were in for Jones's pyrotechnic experts."
"He attended Georgetown University, and in 1902 earned his dental degree (the course for which was then shorter)."
Four years, two years, ten years, we are not told. One minute we are being given lengthy essays on Spalding, Comiskey and the labor wars, and then we are given very clipped one sentence career information about the actual players, who participated in the series.
Also some of the content and comment was just annoyingly wrong and clearly not checked by a competent editor.
For instance, "....-but the Irish and the Germans had begun to make their inroads."
This is 1906 we are discussing, and perhaps the author had never heard of Jennings, Keeler, Kelley and McGraw, those "hardscrabble Irish" heroes of the Baltimore Orioles. But surely as the players in the series included, Hofman, Sheckard, Moran, Schulte, Steinfeldt, Kling, Reulbach, Pfeister, Hahn, Rohe, Donahue, Dougherty, Sullivan, Altrock and Walsh, I think we can safely say that the Germans and Irish had more than "begun to make their inroads".
I don't like being so harsh, but when a book is only 184 pages long I want it to spend the pages on the subject or closely related themes, not lengthy diversions on baseball's labor wars, and the 2005 White Sox victory.
One particularly annoying feature was that in the first paragraph of chapter 5 Bernard Weisberger lenghtily explains that the third and fourth games of a best of seven series tied at one all are the "swing games", as if we are unable to count to three or four. Fielders are "like a hawk hovering over a field mouse", or run down fly balls "like a cheetah." If these embellishments were intended to replicate the style of 1906 newspaper reporting they were a singular failure.
This could have been such a good book if it had concentrated more on the series, the players, the season, and the city of Chicago as it was in 1906. If you are billed as "one of the best historians on earth" with "enormous talents" your books have to meet a very high standard, and unfortunately I don't think this book reached those standards.
Book Description
The Chicago White Sox are a charter member of the American League. Through a little over a century of baseball, they have accumulated a history of triumphs, scandals, and heartbreaking setbacks. The photographs in this book come from the collections of Leo Labau, Mark Fletcher, and Gerry Bilek, three lifelong White Sox fans. The images show dramatic, emotional, and light moments that could only happen in a baseball game played on the south side of Chicago. In these pages you will find showmen Bill Veeck and Harry Carey, the 1959 World Series, sluggers like Allen, Melton, Zisk, Gamble, and Kittle, and great pitchers like Peters, Horlen, and Wood. There are no world championships in this story, just the great moments of a team that hasgiven its fans great memories.
Customer Reviews:
The 2006 Champs deserve better than this !.......2006-03-02
Even if you love the White Sox like me, you won't like this book.
As another reviewer wrote "It's got typographical errors. It's got poor sentence structure. The author He's no John Steinbeck; his prose is pedestrian."
Stay away from 1959 and Beyond.
Great book for diehard fans.......2005-08-24
If you are a fan of the Sox and lived and died with them during the past 45 years you will enjoy this book. The pictures alone make this book worth the price. It has rekindled several memories of my visits to Comiskey park. The writing does look un-edited and has some rough spots. Overall this book is a great keepsake for Sox fans.
Does Go Beyond Dull Anyway.......2005-08-03
This Arcadia entry should fill a need for book-starved White Sox fans... Unfortunately, the writing lacks any verve and the picture selection seems pretty dull. These are THE best pictures the publisher could come up with ? An amateur effort, at best.
A Book Only a White Sox Junkie Could Love.......2005-07-19
It's got typographical errors. It's good poor sentence structure. It's got mediocre anecdotes about mediocre players. In short, it's a perfect book about the Chicago White Sox. (As a passionate White Sox fan, I get to say things like that!) Long before their current 2005 "season to remember," the Chicago White Sox were unforgettable losers -- the kind of team only a die-hard fan could care about, year after year after year. I am one such fan, and so is the author. He's no John Steinbeck; his prose is pedestrian. But he loves this team and his book is a lovable one for anyone else who feels the same.
A fascintating history from th efan's viewpoint.......2004-08-13
The author included some unique observations about the "obvious" significant games in White Sox history as well as some not so obvious. Book includes a fantastic number of original photos. An "easy read" great reading for any Chisox or baseball fan.
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- Five Minutes to Orgasm Every Time You Make Love: Female Orgasm Made Simple
- Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret & Extraordinary Lives
- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
- Fruits Basket, Vol. 16
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Results Rule!: Build a Culture That Blows the Competition Away
- Great Houses of the Hudson River
- War of the Worlds: The Shooting Script
- A Kant Dictionary
- Call of Cthulhu
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- Color Atlas of Large Animal Applied Anatomy
- Venture Capital: The Definitive Guide for Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Practitioners
- Accounting & Auditing Research: Tools and Strategies, Sixth Edition
- Someone to Watch Over Me: Stories
Shoeless Joe
The Glory of Their Times : The Story of Baseball Told By the Men Who Played It
Veeck--As In Wreck: The Autobiography of Bill Veeck
Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball
Eight Men Out
