A Game of Brawl: The Orioles, the Beaneaters, and the Battle for the 1897 PennantNot only was it probably the most cutthroat pennant race in baseball history; it was also a struggle to define how baseball would be played. This book re-creates the rowdy, season-long 1897 battle between the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Beaneaters. The Orioles had acquired a reputation as the dirtiest team in baseball. Future Hall of Famers John McGraw, Wee Willie Keeler, and “Foxy” Ned Hanlon were proven winners—but their nasty tactics met with widespread disapproval among fans. So it was that their pennant race with the comparatively saintly Beaneaters took on a decidedly moralistic air. Bill Felber brings to life the most intensely watched team sporting event in the country’s history to that time. His book captures the drama of the final week, as the race came down to a three-game series. And finally, it conveys the madness of the third and decisive game, when thirty thousand fans literally knocked down the gates and walls of a facility designed to hold ten thousand to watch the Beaneaters grind out a win and bring down baseball’s first and most notorious evil empire. |
Contents
Baseballs Original Evil Empire | 1 |
The Royal Rooters | 26 |
Spring Thunderbolts | 47 |
Copyright | |
10 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
A Game of Brawl: The Orioles, the Beaneaters, and the Battle for the 1897 ... Bill Felber Limited preview - 2007 |
A Game of Brawl: The Orioles, the Beaneaters, and the Battle for the 1897 ... Bill Felber Limited preview - 2007 |
A Game of Brawl: The Orioles, the Beaneaters, and the Battle for the 1897 ... Bill Felber Limited preview - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
August Baltimore American Baltimore Sun Baltimore's Bartlett Giamatti Bartlett Giamatti Research baseman batter Beaneaters Bobby Lowe Boston Globe Brooklyn bunt catcher champions Chicago Chick Stahl Cincinnati Clarke Cleveland club Cooperstown Corbett crowd doubleheader Emslie Fame and Museum field fielder foul Frank Selee game's Giamatti Research Center Giants Hall of Fame Hamilton Hanlon home run Hugh Duffy Hughie Jennings Hurst infield Jack Doyle Jimmy Collins Joe Kelley John McGraw July June Kid Nichols Klobedanz Louis Louisville Lynch manager Marty Bergen Murnane National Baseball Hall National League Ned Hanlon ninth Nops Orioles fans outfield pennant Philadelphia Phillies Pirates pitch pitcher Pittsburg plate play players Quinn Reitz reported rookie Royal Rooters runners Rusie score season second game September shortstop Sockalexis South End Grounds Sporting Stenzel Stivetts Sunday team's teammates Tebeau Ted Lewis third base three games throw Tim Murnane took trip umpire victory walk Willie Keeler winning York