| View Larger Image | The First Fall Classic: The Red Sox, the Giants and the Cast of Players, Pugs and Politicos Who Re-Invented the World Series in 1912 | Hardcoverby Mike Vaccaro (Author)
| List Price: | $26.95 | | Price: | $17.79 | | You Save: | $9.16 (34%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Hardcover | | Publisher: | Doubleday | | Page Count: | 304 Pages | | Publication Date: | October 06, 2009 | | Sales Rank: | 6,758th |
|
FEATURES | - ISBN13: 9780385526241
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
|
EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Acclaimed author Mike Vaccaro presents a riveting, must-read account of what remains, nearly a century later, the greatest World Series ever played. In October of 1912, seven years before gambling nearly destroyed the sport, the world of baseball got lucky. It would get two teams-the Boston Red Sox and the New York Giants, winners of a combined 208 games during the regular season-who may well have been the two finest ball clubs ever assembled to that point. Most importantly, during the course of eight games spanning nine days in that marvelous baseball autumn, they would elevate the World Series from a regional October novelty to a national obsession. The games would fight for space on the front pages of the nation's newspapers, battling both an assassin's bullet and the most sensational trial of the young century, with the Series often carrying the day and earning the “wood.”In The First Fall Classic, veteran sports journalist and author Mike Vaccaro brings to life a bygone era in cinematic and intimate detail-and gives fans a wonderful page-turner that re-creates the magic and suspense of the world's first great series. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 4 reviews)
|
A Must Read For Baseball Fans by Gerard F. Zemek (Parma, Ohio)  5 Stars
November 28, 2009
The First Fall Classic by Mike Vaccaro has three things that I really look for in a book: (1) non-fiction, (2) a topic that interests me, (3) a topic I know little or nothing about.
I really enjoyed reading this book because it felt like I was right there. The writing is superb. It is about the 1912 World Series between the Giants and the Red Sox--what a series it was! The ending has to be read to be believed. If you are a baseball fan or just a sports fan in general, you owe it to yourself to read this book! Thank you, Mr. Vaccaro, for writing this very enjoyable book!
| |
First Fall Classic by Timothy Duggan (Omaha, NE)  4 Stars
November 16, 2009
Pretty good capture of the Series that year and of the time itself. Note that I am a Red Sox fan for all my life (50 years plus)
| |
I Felt Like I was Brought Back In Time to the Year 1912 by C. W. Emblom (Ishpeming, Michigan USA) 5 Stars
November 09, 2009
Baseball has a fascinating history and author Mike Vaccaro brings the reader of his book back to what he calls "The First Fall Classic." The title meaning that this World Series (upper case) was the first one to really be considered a classic. In addition to bringing us a game-by-game description of the eight games (one was a tie) we are told about other important events taking place in the country at the time the games were taking place, namely the trial of officer Charles Becker for his arranged hit on Herman Rosenthal by a trio of gangsters with colorful monikers and the assassination attempt of Bull Moose candidate for president Theodore Roosevelt in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Author Vaccaro does a wonderful job in capturing the personalities of the participants of the Boston Red Sox and New York Giants. What a cast of characters! Names such as Christy Mathewson, Rube Marquard, Chief Meyers, Buck Herzog, Fred Merkle, Jeff Tesreau, Fred Snodgrass, Tris Speaker, Smokey Joe Wood, Harry Hooper, Duffy Lewis, and managers John McGraw and Jake Stahl. The Royal Rooters led by John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald and Michael "Nuf Ced" McGreevy serenade the fans and players with rousing renditions of "Tessie."
John McGraw is well known for his abrasive personality on the ball field, and for his intolerance for mental errors. However, not only was McGraw forgiving of the Merkle incident of 1908 and the Snodgrass "muff" in 1912, he raised their salary for the following year. Snodgrass took his dropped fly ball very hard, but you win as a team and you lose as a team. In addition to making a tremendous catch on the next batter, a dropped pop fly along the first base line that Merkle could have caught, but pitcher Mathewson called for catcher Meyers to catch. The ball would have been an easier play for Matty to catch than Meyers.
Dissension among the Red Sox takes place as Bosox owner James McAleer pressures manager Stahl to pitch a nondescript hurler in game six in New York presumably to coax a game seven in Fenway Park to add to his coffers. All is forgiven with the outcome of the Series favorable to Boston. I have to wonder if the reaction among the Red Sox would have been the same had the Giants prevailed instead.
I did find what I believe to be an error on page 123 the author may want to check up on. The sixth line from the top has Josh Devore being quoted describing a fantastic catch he made and the name of the umpire "Evans" is used instead following the quote.
I find baseball history to be fascinating to read about, and this book gave me a feeling of "You Are There" just like the old television show.
| |
Despite some errors of fact, a very good read by Christopher Barat (Owings Mills, MD, USA) 4 Stars
November 05, 2009
Vaccaro, a columnist for the NEW YORK POST, has written a real gem of an historical baseball tome here -- a gem not without hairline cracks, certainly, but one that entertainingly and (for the most part) accurately portrays the events surrounding the 1912 World Series, which was indeed, as the title claims, the first truly great Fall Classic. Up until 1912, there had been relatively few truly memorable World Series and only one (that of 1909) that had gone the limit of seven games. The match between the New York Giants and the Boston Red Sox "maxed out" and then some, with one tied game being called due to darkness and the eighth and final contest extending into extra innings. If that weren't enough, the eighth game featured a "strike" of sorts by a segment of Red Sox fans -- which, even then, were notoriously loyal -- and the final decision turned upon several of the most famous "boners" in World Series history.
In his HISTORICAL BASEBALL ABSTRACT, Bill James notes that the major-league teams of the 1910s were as diverse a collection of individuals (excepting skin color, of course) as have ever played big-league ball. Teams were potpourris of the educated and illiterate, the gentlemanly and the borderline-criminal, and sometimes the mixture curdled into something ugly. The Red Sox were split between Irish Catholics and Protestant/Masons, while the Giants, led by manager John McGraw, the most notorious of hard-ass skippers, had on their roster Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson, a college graduate and famously straight arrow, and a couple of guys who hated McGraw's guts but wouldn't have wanted to play for any other manager. The Giants, despite not having won a championship in seven years prior to 1912, were every bit as arrogant as any modern New York team, while the speedy Red Sox gloried in the exploits of hard-throwing young pitcher Smoky Joe Wood and the antics of "The Royal Rooters," a pack of peripatetic, well-organized fans led by Boston Mayor John Fitzgerald, JFK's grandfather. Throw in the natural rivalry between New York and Boston -- not to mention hard feelings stemming from the Giants' refusal to play the Red Sox in a postseason series in 1904, the year before the "true" World Series began -- and you have a match-up that dwarfed even a dramatic Presidential race and a sensational trial involving corrupt NYC policeman Charles Becker in the popular press.
I won't give away specifics about the Series, but I will say that, despite several misspellings and errors of fact, Vaccaro gets the background details right. Ordinary citizens who couldn't get to the ball park followed the games in "virtual" fashion by means of scoreboards such as the one above. Vaccaro gives authentic voice to them, as well as to the players and other principals. He is especially good at detailing the sinister inroads that dishonesty had begun to make into the game by this time. Aside from describing the pervasive gambling in and around the ballparks, Vaccaro posits a conversation between Red Sox manager Jake Stahl and team owner James McAleer in which the latter "suggests" that the former refrain from using Wood, the Sox' best pitcher, in one game in New York with the Sox holding a "safe" 3-1 Series lead. The unspoken reason: to have a better chance of filling the stands for one final game in brand-new Fenway Park. I've never heard this story told anywhere else. I am, however, familiar with the "fan walkout" occasioned by the Sox management's foolish decision to sell the Royal Rooters' tickets out from under them, a gaffe which led to the deciding game drawing only a fraction of capacity.
Anyone interested in baseball history should enjoy this book. Among the books I've read regarding this era in baseball, only THE UNFORGETTABLE SEASON, G.H. Fleming's clippings book about the 1908 NL race, clearly surpasses it.
| |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| Perfect: Don Larsen's Miraculous World Series Game and the Men Who Made It Happen
by Lew Paper (Author)
On October 8, 1956, New York Yankees pitcher Don Larsen took the mound for Game 5 of the World Series against the rival Brooklyn Dodgers. In an improbable performance that the New York Times called the greatest moment in the history of the Fall Classic, Larsen, an otherwise mediocre journeyman pitcher, retired twenty-seven straight Dodger batters to clinch a perfect game and, to date, the only post-season no-hitter ever witnessed in major league baseball.
Here, Lew Paper delivers a...
| 
| The Original Curse: Did the Cubs Throw the 1918 World Series to Babe Ruth's Red Sox and Incite the Black Sox Scandal?
by Sean Deveney (Author)
IN THE GRAND TRADITION OF EIGHT MEN OUT . . .
the untold story of baseball’s ORIGINAL SCANDAL Did the Chicago Cubs throw the World Series in 1918—and get away with it? Who were the players involved—and why did they do it? Were gambling and corruption more widespread across the leagues than previously believed? Were the players and teams “cursed” by their actions? Finally, is it time to rewrite baseball history? ...
| 
| The Machine: A Hot Team, a Legendary Season, and a Heart-stopping World Series: The Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds
by Joe Posnanski (Author)
There are memorable teams in baseball—and then there are utterly unforgettable teams like the 1975 Cincinnati Reds. From 1972 to 1976, the franchise known as the Big Red Machine dominated the National League, winning four division crowns, three league pennants, and two World Series titles. But their 1975 season has become the stuff of sports legend. In The Machine, award-winning sports columnist Joe Posnanski captures all of the passion and tension, drama and glory of this...
| 
| Willie's Boys: The 1948 Birmingham Black Barons, The Last Negro League World Series, and the Making of a Baseball Legend
by John Klima (Author)
The story of Willie Mays's rookie year with the Negro American League's Birmingham Black Barons, the Last Negro World Series, and the making of a baseball legend Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays is one of baseball's endearing greats, a tremendously talented and charismatic center fielder who hit 660 career homeruns, collected 3,283 hits, knocked in 1,903 runs, won 12 Gold Glove Awards and appeared in 24 All-Star games. But before Mays was the "Say Hey Kid", he was just a boy....
| 
| Sixty Feet, Six Inches: A Hall of Fame Pitcher & a Hall of Fame Hitter Talk about How the Game is Played
by Bob Gibson (Author), Reggie Jackson (Author), Lonnie Wheeler (Author)
Reggie Jackson and Bob Gibson offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to understand America's pastime from their unique insider perspective.
Legendary. Insightful. Uncompromising. Candid. Uncensored.
Mr. October and Hoot Gibson unfortunately never faced each other on the field. But now, in Sixty Feet, Six Inches, these two legends open up in fascinating detail about the game they love and how it was, is, and should be played. Their one-of-a-kind insider stories recall a who's who...
|
|
|
