Books read: 2007
Feb. 12th, 2007 10:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendi10: Crazy '08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History, by Cait Murphy. This is a book that completely and utterly fails in its stated goal (convincing this reader that the 1908 season was the best in MLB history) and scope (covering the 1908 season's races in depth). It's also, however, a book that absolutely belongs in the library of any baseball fan.
As far as why Murphy (daughter of John Cullen Murphy, Hal Foster's successor on Prince Valiant) fails in her stated goal, it's largely because she starts with a flawed thesis. Although I certainly think that a pair of great pennant races is vital to a great season, I also think a great postseason is essential. Murphy acknowledges that the World Series -- a 4-1 victory by the Cubs over the Tigers -- was underwhelming, but argues that the greatness of the season itself makes up for it. And this is where her scope fails her.
It's possible that the races were exciting enough to make up for a lackluster postseason, but Murphy clearly finds herself more interested in the race between the Cubs and Giants than the AL race, or even the third team in the NL picture, the Pirates. It's understandable, as those two teams both had fascinating managers (Chance and McGraw), hall-of-famers anchoring their pitching staffs (Three-Finger Brown and Christy Mathewson), and lots of famous (Tinker and Evers) and infamous (Merkle) folks around the clubhouse. But by focusing so much of the book on the NL race, and by third-stringing the Pirates (who were in the three-way battle up until the end), it's hard to get a pitcture of a great baseball year if you weren't in New York or Chicago. Throw in some digressions that don't deal with baseball at all (I'm a huge fan of the Belle Gunness story, but living near Chicago doesn't make her relevant), and the focus isn't really going to convince anyone who wasn't already a devotee of this year.
That said, this is still a wonderful book. Murphy has an engaging writing style, and the amount of research she puts into this work (at times generating over 100 endnotes a chapter) is astonishing. Fans of the Cubs/Giants race (particularly the infamous Fred Merkle miscue that cost the Giants the pennant) will have more information than they could have dreamed of, and the level of detail in general is wonderful. Even most of Murphy's failures above work to make the book interesting, as anecdotes of the various baseball crimes and misdemeanors folks like McGraw committed, regardless of how long before or after 1908 they might have taken place, are a joy to read about.
Highest recommendation, in spite of all my criticism, for any fan of the game. And if we ever get an expanded edition that offers more than a chapter on the 1908 American League race, I'll be even happier.
(Oh, as for my choices? 1986, 1991, 1941, 1951, 1967-69, and 1908 are all viable candidates for "greatest season ever," and I'll leave it at that.)
11: Private Eye Action as you like it. . . by Joe Lansdale and Lewis Shiner. My edition, btw, is #4. I guess I got lucky when I ordered it (although I've had this book for so long, I'm embarrassed to say that I can't remember when I got it). This is a collection of early Lansdale and Shiner private eye stories that appeared in the late Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine. Both Lansdale and Shiner are much better writers now than they were thirty years ago, and I don't think I'd use this book to try to convince anyone to read their works. But for fans of either (or both), there's enough stuff here that reflects the talents and unique styles of each author, and a good opportunity to see how far they've come. Also, the essays (two by each author) about their early days are damned funny.
As far as why Murphy (daughter of John Cullen Murphy, Hal Foster's successor on Prince Valiant) fails in her stated goal, it's largely because she starts with a flawed thesis. Although I certainly think that a pair of great pennant races is vital to a great season, I also think a great postseason is essential. Murphy acknowledges that the World Series -- a 4-1 victory by the Cubs over the Tigers -- was underwhelming, but argues that the greatness of the season itself makes up for it. And this is where her scope fails her.
It's possible that the races were exciting enough to make up for a lackluster postseason, but Murphy clearly finds herself more interested in the race between the Cubs and Giants than the AL race, or even the third team in the NL picture, the Pirates. It's understandable, as those two teams both had fascinating managers (Chance and McGraw), hall-of-famers anchoring their pitching staffs (Three-Finger Brown and Christy Mathewson), and lots of famous (Tinker and Evers) and infamous (Merkle) folks around the clubhouse. But by focusing so much of the book on the NL race, and by third-stringing the Pirates (who were in the three-way battle up until the end), it's hard to get a pitcture of a great baseball year if you weren't in New York or Chicago. Throw in some digressions that don't deal with baseball at all (I'm a huge fan of the Belle Gunness story, but living near Chicago doesn't make her relevant), and the focus isn't really going to convince anyone who wasn't already a devotee of this year.
That said, this is still a wonderful book. Murphy has an engaging writing style, and the amount of research she puts into this work (at times generating over 100 endnotes a chapter) is astonishing. Fans of the Cubs/Giants race (particularly the infamous Fred Merkle miscue that cost the Giants the pennant) will have more information than they could have dreamed of, and the level of detail in general is wonderful. Even most of Murphy's failures above work to make the book interesting, as anecdotes of the various baseball crimes and misdemeanors folks like McGraw committed, regardless of how long before or after 1908 they might have taken place, are a joy to read about.
Highest recommendation, in spite of all my criticism, for any fan of the game. And if we ever get an expanded edition that offers more than a chapter on the 1908 American League race, I'll be even happier.
(Oh, as for my choices? 1986, 1991, 1941, 1951, 1967-69, and 1908 are all viable candidates for "greatest season ever," and I'll leave it at that.)
11: Private Eye Action as you like it. . . by Joe Lansdale and Lewis Shiner. My edition, btw, is #4. I guess I got lucky when I ordered it (although I've had this book for so long, I'm embarrassed to say that I can't remember when I got it). This is a collection of early Lansdale and Shiner private eye stories that appeared in the late Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine. Both Lansdale and Shiner are much better writers now than they were thirty years ago, and I don't think I'd use this book to try to convince anyone to read their works. But for fans of either (or both), there's enough stuff here that reflects the talents and unique styles of each author, and a good opportunity to see how far they've come. Also, the essays (two by each author) about their early days are damned funny.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-12 04:16 pm (UTC)I don't know. Any Lansdale you'd recommend for a guy like me on the fence about him?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-12 04:41 pm (UTC)