Connie MacK's '29 Triumph : The Rise and Fall of the Philadelphia Athletics Dynasty [Hardcover]

William C. Kashatus (Author), Ted Taylor (Afterword), David Kindred (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1999

This work chronicles the Philadelphia Athletics' rivalry with the New York Yankees, 1927 to 1932. Based primarily on newspaper accounts, the book tells the story of the "Grand Old Man of Baseball"-and the 1929 A's team that is invidiously compared to the 1927 Yankees as baseball's greatest all-around team.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Long before the 1997 world champion Florida Marlins were dismantled to reduce the payroll, Connie Mack, the legendary owner-manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, used the same strategy. Far from ruining the game, Mack's sell-off in 1915 helped him build a dynasty in the 1920s. Kashatus makes a compelling case for the proposition that Mack's 1929 A's were the best team of all time, better than the 1927 Yankees. He rehashes the once-great debate over the relative merits of the two teams' stars--Jimmy Fox and Al Simmons for the A's versus Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig--and he supplies fascinating historical background on the franchises, the respective cities, and the men who headed the franchises, Mack and Yankee manager Joe McCarthy. Fascinating baseball history with dozens of black-and-white photos, extensive notes, and a great bibliography. Wes Lukowsky

Review

"a thrilling...head-to-head battle for American League supremacy.... Lefty Grove, George Earnshaw, Jimmy Foxx and Al Simmons provided the arms and the bats in support of the...'Grand Old Man of Baseball'" -- Sports Collectors Digest

"find out how Connie Mack's crew can stake a rightful claim as the greatest ever" -- USA Today Baseball Weekly

"makes a compelling case for the proposition that Mack's 1929 A's were the best team of all time...fascinating historical background...baseball history with dozens of black-and-white photos, extensive notes, and a great bibliography" -- Booklist/RBB

"provides good portraits of these A's stars. ...a valuable addition to Philadelphia baseball history" -- Philadelphia Inquirer

"thanks to...diligent research, the story of the Philadelphia Athletics and its peerless manager Connie Mack has been resurrected and can now astonish and delight general readers as well as baseball fans everywhere" -- Pennsylvania Heritage

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786405856
• ISBN-13: 978-0786405855
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,404,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good but not great book on the White Elephants., September 16, 2001

By 

greg walker - See all my reviews

This review is from: Connie MacK's '29 Triumph : The Rise and Fall of the Philadelphia Athletics Dynasty (Hardcover)

I was expecting more really. Not much has been written on the 1929 Athletics dynasty but lots of good information is out there on this team. I figured the author would collect all this info and give us the best of it in his book. We get a few good tales about Connie Mack's boys but nothing new or spectacular and this book is not cheap. I love Foxx, Grove, Simmons, Cochrane, and so I bought it, but it was very average. In fact, kind of dull sometimes. Buy it because it's the only book out there on this team (29-31 A's) but don't expect too much. Buy the biographies on Foxx, Cochrane and Grove and you will learn just about as much, if not more. The Sports Illustrated article on this team with Simmons on the cover got me interested in this team-it was awesome-but don't expect the same from this book. Give me a good Biography on Al Simmons to go with the others mentioned above and we got the complete story on this greatest team of all-time-even better than the 27 Yankees.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OUTSTANDING, December 30, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Connie MacK's '29 Triumph : The Rise and Fall of the Philadelphia Athletics Dynasty (Hardcover)

THIS IS A BOOK I DID NOT WANT TO END. AN EXCELLENT JOB OF WRITING ABOUT ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING OWNERS AND ONE OF THE LAST DINOSAURS OF BASEBALL. (CONNIE MACK) THIS BOOK'S TELLING OF THE A'S DYNASTY OF THE LATE 20'S AND EARLY 30'S IS EXTENSIVE AND MASTERFULLY WRITTEN. THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ FOR ALL BASEBALL FANS. ONE OF THE BEST I HAVE EVER READ.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Connie Mack-Bill Kashatus' Triumph, January 19, 2000

By 

Juan Domingo Peron (Suffolk County, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Connie MacK's '29 Triumph : The Rise and Fall of the Philadelphia Athletics Dynasty (Hardcover)

Fascinating account, even for one raised on horseback and skis. I have never understood the intricacies of The Great American Past Time, however, Mr. Kashatus' story telling is illuminating.