Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

THE FIRST FALL CLASSIC: THE RED SOX, THE GIANTS, AND THE CAST OF PLAYERS, PUGS AND THE POLITICOS WHO REINVENTED THE WORLD SERIES IN 1912 is a 'must' for any library strong in baseball history and culture. It covers a cast of characters who during the course of just eight games spanning nine days elevated the sport to World Series fame, involving sports and political worlds alike in the finest World Series ever played. Collections strong in baseball history must have this.

A rip-roarin' look at the first "great" World Series.

The 1912 World Series between the New York Giants and Boston Red Sox, a series that went to an astonishing eight games, is brought to full life by Vaccarro in this exciting and highly readable account. The greats are all here from John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, Tris Speaker to "Smokin" Joe Wood, who for one brief season, was perhaps the greatest pitcher in the history of the game.

Vaccarro does a great job of placing the series in the context of American history by also spending time on the Becker trial, the so-called "trial of the century", the 1912 presidential campaign and the attempted assassination of Teddy Roosevelt. Even JFK's grandfather had a role to play in the series.

Baseball was a business in 1912 with greedy owners, players trying to enhance their salaries by betting on games, gamblers mingling with ball players and a corrupt ruling National Commission dedicated to protecting the interest of the owners. As much innovation that the game has experienced, it's refreshing to see how little has actually changed in the sport.

The accounts of the games and portraits of the players sustain the drama and excitement of the 1912 World Series. This is a great baseball book, reccommended for any sports fan.

If you love baseball, especially its history, "The First Fall Classic" is a must-read. Not only is it an interesting snapshot of a time period in American history, both on the field and off it, but it's absolutely heart-racing when it comes to the chronicles of the games played in the 1912 World Series (or world's series, as it was then called -- no caps). Mike Vaccaro's style is humorous, intense, and thought-provoking by turns, and he certainly knows the game about which he's writing, form the time it began through today. I particuarly like his chronicles of the games played; they're exciting and easy to follow and visualize. They're also tension-filled. By the time I read the nail-biting account of the final game, it was all I could do not to read ahead because I almost couldn't take the excitement of not knowing who won. If you are a baseball fan, get this book and read it ASAP. And, if you don't know how the 1912 Series turned out, do everything you can to keep from peeking ahead to learn the winner. You will feel like you're in the stands at Fenway by the time you read Vaccaro's account of the last game.

This book chronicles one of the first "big events" in professional sports, the 1912 World Series. While not the first, it was the first to generate huge excitement, bringing Boston and New York to a standstill. I'm a huge fan of the early days of pro sports when things were more wild and unpredictable, and that's certainly true here. Today, one can't imagine an owner throwing a game or a World Series game ending in a tie because of darkness. It's also nice to see other famous players of that era besides Cobb and Ruth, such as Tris Speaker and Christy Mathewson, get some attention. This story also provides an illuminating look at a pre-radio America, as people have to gather in front of newspaper offices and watch dioramas of the games to find out what's happening. As the series runs it's course, Teddy Roosevelt faces an assasin's bullet and the trial of a police officer shows a level of corruption in the police one hopes is long past.

My only negatives were that a couple of the games may have deserved more questioning as to what really happened. A spectacular catch made at the end of one game helps keep the Giants alive but almost no one could see it because of the fog and the dark. I truly wondered if that catch was actually made. Another issue I have is the author's contention that this was a great World Series. It was clearly an exciting one, but the Sox were also definitely the better team and it only became close because of some truly horrific play by both teams. The number of errors was ridiculous and will make you wonder whether the dead ball era players were truly as great as they've come to be regarded.

Given that Michael Vaccaro is a sports columnist for the New York Post, his infatuation with the New York-Boston rivalry is understandable. His contention that the Giants and Red Sox reinvented the World Series in 1912, however, is quite debatable. True, it was the first series to go seven games (eight games were actually played, one ended in a tie) and be decided in extra innings, but fan interest, the intensity and the hoopla were easily matched by the 1911 World Series between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Athletics.

The Red Sox and the Giants were bitter rivals. The Red Sox, led by Smokey Joe Wood's 34-5 record, were favored. Giants' manager John McGraw stoked the competitive fires when he labeled the Red Sox as a "one-man team," referring to Wood.

The Red Sox were up three games to one (plus a tie) when controversy and suspicions began to pop up. The players felt they were entitled to share revenues from the first five games, since one was tied, instead of the first four games. Of course, the baseball owners and the National Commission disagreed.

Boston could have wrapped up the series with one more win. Everyone expected Wood to start the decisive game, but Boston owner James McAleer convinced manager Jake Stahl into starting rookie Buck O'Brien, who didn't get word that he would start until game day. Unfortunately, he had done some heavy drinking the night before. The decision caused the players and fans to murmur, "The fix is in." The Giants roughed O'Brien up for five runs in the first inning and went on to win, 5-2.

Wood started the following game, but suspiciously allowed six runs on 13 pitches in the first inning before he was relieved. The Giants went out to win 11-4 and tie the series at three games a piece. The crucial seventh game pitted Christy Mathewson of the Giants against Hugh Bedient of the Red Sox (Wood offered to start for the Red Sox).

Tied 1-1 after nine innings, the Giants scored in the top of the 10th and the Red Sox tied it in the bottom of the inning. The winning run scored when center fielder Fred Snodgrass muffed a fairly routine fly ball. The play became known as the "$30,000 muff."

There are other story lines throughout the book--the presidential election of 1912, the attempted assassination of Theodore Roosevelt, a murder trial and the antics of the Royal Rooters--but it's the baseball line that's most interesting. Vaccaro does a good job of recreating the games and focusing on the suspicions that not every game of the 1912 World Series was played on the up and up.

P.S. I wish the book had an index.

The biggest fault I could find with "The First Fall Classic" is that although it takes place in Fenway Park's inaugural year -- 1912 -- it fails to include any clear photos of what Fenway looked like at the time, inside or out. Fenway in 1912 was vastly different than the one we grew up with... the big wall in left field was not yet "The Wall" or "The Green Monster", and was fronted by the steep incline of "Duffy's Cliff", for example.

However, a good picture of Old Fenway is one of the few things "The First Fall Classic" doesn't have. New York Post writer Mike Vaccaro goes through the best-of-seven 1912 World Series one game at a time -- the series actually stretched to eight games, thanks to a tie -- and brings back to life many legendary players who have since passed on into something approaching obscurity: managers John McGraw and Jake Stahl; ace hurlers Christy Mathewson and Smoky Joe Wood; and the rest of the starting nine of the New York Giants and Boston Red Sox.

Vaccaro's motivations for writing are two-fold: first, he argues that this is the year that "the world's series" became "The World Series", in capital letters; and second, that Red Sox owner Jimmy McAleer encouraged his team (up 3 games to 1) to tank two games, in order to extend the series and thus the owner's gate receipts. Along the way Vacarro addresses the strained labor relations between the players and the tyrannical National Commission that ran the game, and also (a la Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City) delves into real world affairs as a counterpoint to on-field action. Vaccaro attempts to show how the three-way 1912 presidential election race may have been subtly influenced by the series (with incumbent William Howard Taft deferring his campaign in order to more closely monitor the games), and intercuts game action with the real-life murder trial of New York City cop Charles Becker.

The book is not entirely successful. Vaccaro admits in his preface that most of his material came from contemporaneous newspaper accounts, and the sportswriters of the day are, how shall we say, known for embellishing events and dialogue. Vaccaro even suggests that he invented his own dialogue when the historical record is blank; as a result, some of the conversations between principals tends to sound a little stilted. Also Vaccaro seeks to demonstrate the "fixing" of Games Six and Seven, but you'll have to make up your own mind on that one, 97 years after the fact (or compare them to Game 5 of the 2009 Series, if you have a nastily suspicious turn of mind).

However, the 1912 World Series really was the first "great" Fall Classic, with only the more one-sided 1905 and 1911 matchups prior to that lingering in our collective memories. Game Eight was a fabulous piece of work and Vacarro does do it justice.

This is an excellent book that really takes you back to the days in 1912 when that year's World Series was played.

It provides good detail not only about the ballplayers and the games, but also about the people who followed that World Series.

However, I took a star off my rating because the book really doesn't show what the title claims. For me, it never backed up the claim that the World Series was reinvented in 1912.

Reviewer's disclaimer: I know Mike Vaccaro, like him and respect his work immensely. We're both alumni of the same journalism program and of the same daily newspaper. That said, you don't have to like Mike to find his newest book enjoyable. Indeed, you don't even have to be a baseball fan -- the story he tells balances great baseball moments with a cast of characters so strange that they have to be real.

The book's full title sets the scene for you: "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." Mike's argument, which he supports well, is that the world series (lower case) really became the World Series (the one and only) with an extraordinary series of games in 1912. The series pitted manager John McGraw and the New York Giants against manager Jake Stahl and his Boston Red Sox. The Sox won, but not without twists along the way including a tie ball game, arguments over who got the money, an owner's interference with who played, gamblers, rabid fans, political grandstanding and a nation's attention riveted to the games. (In one of the many enjoyable notes here, Mike shows us how 24/7 sports results were offered long before commercial radio and television, let alone the internet.)

But Mike broadens his story to the world outside. When New Yorkers weren't concentrating on baseball, they spared some attention for the trial of Charles Becker, a New York police officer accused of killing Beansie Rosenthal, a gangster. When they and the rest of the country could spare time from those two stories, they followed the three-way presidential race, pitting Woodrow Wilson against William Howard Taft with a complicating guest appearance by Theodore Roosevelt.

Writers are often told it's the details that will set the stage of their stories and let readers "know" their characters. Careful historical research has given Mike the details that let him tell us exactly what it would have been like to be a fan of either team, what else we might have seen in the newspapers of the day and who these people were. The blend of their stories with the baseball action keeps the reader hooked on Mike's story ... and I suspect that will even be true for those who aren't sports fans.

It's easy to recommend "The First Fall Classic" to dedicated sports fans. But even if you aren't, I'd encourage you to try it. Mike's excellent writing and strong details will give you a story that should appeal ... even during the game descriptions.