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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Chris Von der Ahe and the St. Louis Browns" is Wundervoll!, June 7, 2000
This review is from: Chris Von der Ahe and the St. Louis Browns (Hardcover)
Major League baseball has had its share of controversial owners. But after reading "Chris Von der Ahe and the St. Louis Browns," I never thought I could meet a gent who could build a ballclub to prominence like Ted Turner, then break the team up quicker than Wayne Huzienga did with the Marlins. Von der Ahe also possessed the innovative streak of Charles O. Finley (what other owner, besides Chris, had a ball park with both a horse-race track and a "Shoot-the-Chutes" ride?), could fire a manager quicker than you can say "Steinbrenner," and may have known even less about the game than Marge Schott. Tom Hetrick's biography vividly takes us to the wild and wooly days of late-19th century baseball, when 10 home runs could get you the home run crown, pitchers never heard the term "pitch count," and umpires had good days if they could go the entire game without getting pummeled. This is the milieu for German immigrant Von der Ahe, as we follow his rags (a modest grocer and back-of-the-store saloon keeper) to riches (real estate magnate and self-proclaimed "Boss President" of the 4-time American Association champion St. Louis Browns franchise) to flaming rags (scandal, prison, bankruptcy and his Browns' ownership wrested away from him) story. Hetrick presents meticulous research on the largely obscure Von der Ahe. As a lover of baseball history, I liked his outstanding treatment into the history of the American Association, the league that, for ten years (1882-1891), challenged the established National League and ushered in the precursor of today's World Series. But this book is not just for "seamheads." Hetrick presents a rich portrait of St. Louis in its golden era. He also breathes life into the bombastic and often-outrageous Von der Ahe -- fractured English and all. I laughed out loud as Von der Ahe tells his team's press agent, Harry B. Martin, "Now you magke der mistake of drinkin [thinking] dat der beable [people] vish to read about dem bum ball players. Mardin, vot der American beable like to readt is aboudt me, Chris Von der Ahe." To this reader, "Der Poss Bresident" seems to have enough hot air to inflate a Zeppelin. As biographies go, Tom's book is a home run. A lively and fast read, it is a great account of the game as it was played in the 19th century as well as a portrait of a common immigrant who became a great success -- only to allow that success to eventually destroy him. And don't forget, the next time you're at the ballpark with a cold beer, make a toast to Chris Von der Ahe - the man who put beer and baseball together.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hetrick's Grand Slam on the mythic Browns owner, March 18, 2006
This review is from: Chris Von der Ahe and the St. Louis Browns (Hardcover)
I can't help but wonder whether I would have grown so fond of historic baseball had I not moved to St. Louis some years ago. Between that and reading Tom Hetrick's books on 19th century baseball, I have come to appreciate the fascinating history of America's game where the Missouri meets the Mississippi. And like his "Misfits!" chronicling the Cleveland Spiders, "Chris Von der Ahe and the St. Louis Browns" is meticulously researched, a fascinating story of one of baseball's most flamboyant owners ever and his colorful charges, and yet somehow a very human, very cautionary tale. I've commented before on Tom Hetrick's knack for turning an historic baseball phrase. Von der Ahe, after releasing a weak catcher in 1891, says, "He could not catch a string of sausages, nor hit a dead elephant with a club." The book is loaded with them. From the triumphant years where the Browns were world champions to the years when they stunk up the cellar, Hetrick's narrative unfolds quickly, competently, and with great entertainment. I could not stop turning the pages. Congratulations to Tom Hetrick on another fine outing!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bill Veeck wasn't the First Showman in Baseball, Make way for Chris Von der Ahe, June 2, 2007
This review is from: Chris Von der Ahe and the St. Louis Browns (Hardcover)
This is a fine book telling the story of the first genuine "character" to own a major league baseball team. Chris Von der Ahe owned a beer garden and boardinghouse in St. Louis near the Grand Avenue baseball park where teams played their games. He realized that his bar always picked up before and after baseball games, and he decided to merge is primary business with a secondary one, baseball. He soon owned the American Association's St. Louis Browns. Mustachioed, Roman nosed, and speaking with the Dutch accent that betrayed his birth in an obscure Germanic province in 1851, Von der Ahe became the prototypical spotlight grabbing major league baseball team owner. He referred to himself, in his thick accent as "der poss bresident," and the fans loved it. He spent freely, indulged his players, and built the Browns into a baseball dynasty in the 1880s. Von der Ahe loved the celebrity his ownership brought him, for now he was not just a prosperous businessman but both a prosperous businessman and a public figure. It was an unbeatable combination, perhaps the real attraction for baseball ownership up to the present, and something repeated many times by many different owners since. In a city rich in baseball history, no one has been more significant in shaping the game in early St. Louis than Chris Von der Ahe.
Von der Ahe adored publicity for his baseball exploits, even going out of his way to garner it. He made every detail of running the team as a media event. For instance, immediately after each game the departing fans could watch Von der Ahe, flanked by armed guards, trundle a wheelbarrow containing bags with the day's receipts from the team's office to the bank. When the team's new press agent, Harry B. Martin, tried to persuade Von der Ahe that the fans should really hear more about the players in the daily newspapers, the Dutchman responded, "Martin, you was a good press agent but [predecessor George] Munson was the best press agent. Now you make the mistake of thinking that the people wish to read about them ball players. Martin they don't. What the American people like to read is about me."
Von der Ahe's Browns were an excellent team and dominated the American Association throughout the 1880s. Indeed, the Browns ran away with the pennant in 1885 and it won the championship each year between 1885 and 1888 under the leadership of manager-first baseman Charles Comiskey, later the owner of the American League's Chicago White Sox. When he first came to St. Louis from the Dubuque Rabbits minor league team, Von der Ahe paid Comiskey a measly $90 a month. Comiskey worked wonders with the team then demanded, and received, top pay of $5,000 per year. But Von der Ahe thought this a small price to pay for Comiskey's services since the team made him some $75,000 a year during its glory years.
The St. Louis franchise did not fare well in the 1890s, in part due to poor management by Von der Ahe. It was not entirely his fault, however. The combination of poor investing and economic depression as a result of the Panic of 1893 sent his resources into a downward spiral. This led to his drinking excessively and that, coupled with a succession of mistresses that infuriated his wife, prompted her to sue for divorce. By 1898 Von der Ahe was a hollow shell of what he had been a decade earlier. The final blow, and the other owners enjoyed levying it because of the animosity they had for both Von der Ahe's lifestyle and showmanship, happened when the league forced him to sell the club to more stable owners.
"Chris Von der Ahe and the St. Louis Browns" is an excellent baseball biography of a significant figure in the development of nineteenth century baseball. Enjoy!
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