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 [Hardcover]

Mike Vaccaro (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 6, 2009

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Vaccaro, sports columnist for the New York Post, recreates the excitement of the 1912 World Series, complete with a hotly contested presidential campaign, an assassination attempt on Roosevelt and a grisly national murder trial. Two superb teams, the Boston Red Sox and New York Giants, reflect the bitter rivalry between the American and National Leagues, with several players destined for the Hall of Fame among them: Christy Mathewson, John McGraw, Tris Speaker and Smokey Joe Wood. Vaccaro tells the reader every riveting detail leading up to the games: death threats, gangster pressure, parents and truant officers seeking young boys with baseball fever. He pulls out all the stops through the series' competitive seven games, with the incredible tie-breaker and its aftermath. Informative yet entertaining, Vaccaro's extraordinary baseball chronicle renders the early days of our national pastime in all its grit and glory. (Oct.)
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Review

“Mike Vaccaro does not exaggerate when he says that “the World Series was really born in 1912…[He has] written a smart, lively account of the series that goes beyond the games themselves—though his accounts of all of them are vivid—to show how what happened during that series reflected what was happening in the nation.” –The Washingtom Post

“Whether the 1912 World Series was the best of all time is debatable, though, as Vaccaro writes, a case can surely be made that it is. But its importance and excitement cannot be denied. The personalities and style of the game may have changed, but few events can rivet the sporting world like a back-and-forth World Series.” –MLB.com

“It’s a gripping drama.” – New York Post

“As Vaccaro noted…you couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried. It was that kind of World Series, and its story is very well told.” – The Boston Globe

“The Series could have taken place last fall, so glorious and fallible were the players, so modern and transcendent the game.” – Booklist

“Vaccaro tells the reader every riveting detail leading up to the games: death threats, gangster pressure, parents and truant officers seeking young boys with baseball fever…Informative yet entertaining, Vaccaro’s extraordinary baseball chronicle renders the early days of our national pastime in all its grit and glory.” -- Publishers Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday (October 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385526245
• ISBN-13: 978-0385526241
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.2 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #296,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Despite some errors of fact, a very good read November 5, 2009

By Christopher Barat

Format:Hardcover

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I Felt Like I was Brought Back In Time to the Year 1912 November 8, 2009

By C. W. Emblom

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Collections strong in baseball history must have this January 18, 2010

By Midwest Book Review

Format:Hardcover

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.