Customer Reviews

The Tour to End All Tours: The Story of Major League Baseball's 1913-1914 World Tour

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The writing is mediocre, many "facts" are either inaccurate or exaggerated, and various passages reveal the author's lack of a deep understanding of baseball. Also, he couldn't resist injecting his puritanical views into the text. But for any devoted fan, the cast of characters and the adventures are fascinating, and the author's weaknesses are mostly irrelevant to the potential to enjoy the book.

To tell you the truth, I've found "The tout to end all tours" more interesting that "Spalding's World Tour". Maybe because it features more interesting people such as Germany Schaefer, Jim Thorpe, Charly Comiskey, John McGraw and Christy Mathewson (who abandoned the tour before taking the Empress of Japan to the Orient and spared himself the horror of the trip).

It was both a fun and informative read.

Very interesting baseball in history book. It shipped from England which was slower, but had a very attentive seller & arrived in great shape.

This book is thoroughly researched and beautifully written. Anyone with an interest in baseball history or American history will find a lot to like.

About 25 years after A.G. Spalding's world tour of professional baseball, the New York Giants, Chicago White Sox and other superstars undertook another incredible odyssey that touched down in the Philippines, Europe, Egypt and U.S. cities.

Author James E. Elfers does a masterful job in reconstructing this forgotten diamond gem that lasted six months in 1913-1914 which found the players paving the way to the modern marketing of the game, along with trading yarns with millionaires like Thomas Lipton and being granted an audience with Pope Pius X. The pop culture fascination with athletic achievement is certainly not new.

The list of stars could be an all-time team today - Tris Speaker, Buck Weaver, Sam Crawford - and included arguably the greatest all-around athlete ever, Jim Thorpe. Elfers also has excerpts from an interview he conducted with the last living witness of the trek - Ben Mall - who was 100 years old at the time of the meeting.

This is a history that has been dusted off like home plate after the wintry months give way to spring, with the first batter smacking a long home run.

Author James Elfers provides a detailed account of the six-month World Tour of the New York Giants and Chicago White Sox from 1913-1914. A similar tour today would be impressive, but 95 years ago, it was simply amazing.

Elfers descriptive narrative gives the reader a seat on the tour. From the little towns on the United States leg of the tour to Australia, the Philippines, Egypt and Europe, you get a taste of what it was like for the players. Elfers describes the weather, the games, the crowds, the ball fields, the receptions, the ships, the hotels and the off-the-field activities. And, he provides a dose of history for each stop.

Some of the better-known players on the Tour included Jim Thorpe, Buck Weaver, Fred Merkle, Tris Speaker, Mike Donlin, Sam Crawford, Germany Schaefer, Larry Doyle and George Wiltse. Thorpe and a couple other players were on their honeymoons.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in baseball in the Deadball Era or the Tour itself. This is an excellent addition to baseball history.

The US was looking for things to do to take their minds off of the hardships of the time. Baseball was the perfect vehicle to do that. It involved teams with a large number of players, that lasted 2 hours or more. It would also allow a large fan base to surround the field in a picnic atmosphere, to see the action.

The author has conveyed different feelings as to what baseball was about in this time period of US history. To push our emerging sport out for the world to see was an incredible chance to elevate many things. First, that we loved to do things together for fun. Second, that the US was a strong and diverse country reaching out to other countries. It is amazing to think of the diversity of the audience this team played to.

These players who took part in this must have known what they were portraying to the world, THE LOVE OF THE GAME!

The author had to dig hard to research all of the information gathered from this time period. True baseball enthusiats will enjoy this book!

David Vogel

It's amazing that the events Mr. Elfers writes about have been all but forgotten. He brings them back to life so vividly that his book is a very deserving CASEY Award Finalist for 2003. Kudos to Mr. Elfers and the Univ. of Nebraska press!

The Tour To End All Tours is a great book about a seemingly long lost event. Elfers research uncovered several valuable reference materials that made this trip come to life. Mrs. Thorpe's dairy of the trip, for example, adds valuable insights that most readers would never encounter.

I read a broad range of baseball history books and have a great interest in the 1880 through 1919 baseball era. I found the well researched historical aspects combined with the personal anecdotes of the players and tourist on the 1913-14 tour made this book an insightful and entertaining read.

...

After reading this book and discovering that a film was made during the trip, I hold out hope that it may one day it will be found as it would be a great companion to the text.