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Title: John McGraw by Charles C. Alexander ISBN: 0-8032-5925-5 Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr Pub. Date: March, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A good book on McGraw
Comment: This is the first book I have read from the many that Charles Alexander has written about turn of the century baseball players and I have to say that Mr. Alexander is a voracious researcher as he has facts and events of McGraw's life down to every little detail. For this, he is to be commended as he has certainly put to paper, atleast to this point, the definitive book on John McGraw.
However, this is not a short or an entertaining read by any stretch of the imagination as Alexander's book is decidedly bland in its detailed accounts of seasons past. After detailing McGraw's many outbursts on and off the field, Alexander chronicles McGraw's gambling misdeeds and even possible corruption (to the degree of the 1919 Black Sox). But Alexander does not write with a lot of imagination. His work reads exactly like you might expect a chronological account might: vanilla.
Although I enjoyed reading this book and appreciated all of the facts and research Alexander did on McGraw, I cannot say that this is one of the better baseball books I have read. Still, it remains the only book of any substance on McGraw, so if you want to learn about one of the most important men in the history of baseball, this is your book.
Rating: 3
Summary: OK, but not wonderful
Comment: The first half of this is a pretty good read, as the author provides some decent context about the development of baseball around the turn of the last century.
The second half has a tendency to degenerate into repetitive and awfully superficial chronicle, and doesn't bring the 20's and 30's to life in the same way as the earlier sections--even though there were colorful characters galore available.
(I noticed the same flatness in large sections of Alexander's history of baseball, Our Game. There too he often retreats to mere narrative, and away from insight.)
If you've read the 50 or so better baseball books available, or if you enjoy hearing oft-told tales told once more, this is a pleasant enough way to kill two or three afternoons.
Rating: 5
Summary: To understand John McGraw is to understand baseball
Comment: John McGraw dominated the landscape of baseball from 1890 until 1933. He came to demolish the enemy in score and spirit- and often succeded. He was the Master of an age where sportsmanship was considered a negative. From his days as a star and ringleader of the dirty & scrappy (NL)Baltimore Orioles until his death soon after managing the first NL all-star team, McGraw played key roles in nearly every major event in baseball's most formative years.
In 1901 he helped formed the American League, then tried to kill the AL in 1902. Why no World Series in 1904? McGraw. Inventor of the Hit-and-run? McGraw. Originator of collarless uniforms? McGraw. First to use Relief specialist in the bullpen? McGraw. First in 3 World Series in a row? McGraw. 4 in a row? McGraw. Only his pupil Casey Stengel has matched McGraw for total pennants. His career placed him in a pennant race NEARLY EVERY YEAR in 5 DECADES! (As Manager 10-1st, 10-2nd, 4-3ed place finishes in 32 years.)
Alexander presents the events of McGraw's life in chronological order- enabling the reader to use 'John McGraw' as a reference book for what happened in baseball in any given year due to the detail provided by Alexander. Charles C. Alexander writes history books about baseball; not mere collections of tales and legends set to prose. His facts are throughly researched and documented. However, even well written history books sometimes become tedious in detail. This book is no exception. Personally, I prefer an overkill of facts to haphazard story telling. Not quite as well written as the masterful 'Ty Cobb' and compelling 'Rogers Hornsby' by Alexander, but still the cream of baseball biographies.
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Title: Stengel: His Life and Times by Robert W. Creamer ISBN: 0803263678 Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr Pub. Date: February, 1996 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train by Henry W. Thomas, Shirley Povich ISBN: 0803294336 Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr Pub. Date: February, 1998 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Ty Cobb by Charles C. Alexander ISBN: 0195035984 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: May, 1985 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Our Game: An American Baseball History by Charles C. Alexander ISBN: 0805020942 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: April, 1992 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Cy Young: A Baseball Life by Reed Browning ISBN: 1558493980 Publisher: Univ. of Massachusetts Press Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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