The Pitch That Killed

[dacelo]

Intrigued by the post about the book “The Glory of Their Times” someone made last month I picked it up at the bookstore last week. It’s a fun read. Just down the shelf was “The Pitch That Killed” by Mark Sowell. It’s the story of Ray Chapman, Carl Mays and the1920 pennant race and is quite possibly the best baseball book I’ve ever read. Admittedly, I’m a big fan of Chapman (and often have him on my teams) but this book presents the tragedy of his death in a compassionate and riveting manner.

Anyone else read it? Like it? Other reading suggestions?

[danielz]

Same subject, I read Carl Mays biography. He didn't allow it to be published until after his death.

Dom Dimaggio wrote a book about the '41 season. While his brother had the hitting streak, he was playing next Ted who hit 400. And about it being an end of an era because the players started leaving for WWII after the '41 season and then after the war, the color barrier was broken.
Other 2 favorites were biographies on John McGraw and Connie Mack.

[ROBERTFIELD]

"The Pitch that Killed" is also one of my favorite books. I recommend the Cobb biography by Al Stump, if you haven't read that, although he's a little less sympathetic than Ray Chapman. :shock:

[The Last Druid]

I've read all three. Cobb's bio is the most riveting for insight into his truly twisted, fee-simple persona. Just an ugly human being. But I'd still have him on my team.

[ROBERTFIELD]

Sometimes the difference between an ugly human being and a truly tortured soul is negligable. Cobb was both.

[The Last Druid]

So was Hitler. Like Cobb he had free will. Both are accountable for their free will choices. Lots of people suffer and yet don't inflict their pain needlessly on others. For example, the hotel elevator guy Cobb half beat to death for the most trivial perceived insult. Cobb may have been the meanest person I have ever read about. And he certainly had all the advantages of life, at least until his mother murdered his father.

On the other hand, the chapters in the Glory book on Marquad (not a Rube at all) and Sam Crawford really resonated with me. I would like to have been friends with either of those guys. The tidbits on Germany Schaefer were also fascinating. The book really made a lot of the early ATG stars come alive for me.

I'd recommend both books. Just keep the Cobb book away from impressionable kids until they're a bit older.

[ROBERTFIELD]

Cobb and Hitler...fair comparison. :roll: I'm sure Wahoo Sam and Rube Marquard just loved black folks, as was the style at the time.

And yes, please protect those white young 'uns from the knowledge that their forefathers' society was based on the wicked belief of white superiority...and it was wicked, for sure. The idea that Cobb's racial attitudes were way out of line with that of his contemporaries is a patent falsehood. He was just far too willing to beat somebody up over them. When Cobb went into the stands in Detroit to beat down Claude Lueker for calling Cobb a "half- n"-word, and was suspended for it, his entire team went on strike, as they all thought this was too much of an insult for any white man to take.

p.s. Sam Crawford was one of them.

[ROBERTFIELD]

Cobb's propensity towards violence and his absolute lack of humor are what made him possibly the meanest man to ever play the game. He died alone without any friends and estranged from his family. Seems like a good lesson for young people in why it's no good to be that way to me.

Tris Speaker (among many, many other players) was a KKK member, but you never see him portrayed as a mean guy. The portrayal of Cobb's rascist attitudes as being way out of line with the other whites of his time just white-washes ( :lol: ) the true history of white people's treatment of African-Americans at the time he was playing baseball.

I am right now reading the biography of Jack Johnson. It gives a pretty clear picture of how whites in general viewed themselves compared to black folks during this time period.

[MICHAELEVANS]

Ty Cobb was mean, unfriendly, etc., but there were others.... They say Rajah (Hornsby) was just as surly and unfriendly as Cobb, he just wasn't as violent. (But then again, he didn't have Ty's homelife situation).

Tinkers and Evers (of the great Tinkers to Evers to Chance DP combo) didn't speak to each other for several years during the heyday of their playing next to each other in the infield.

[novie]

I ordered "Killed" from amazon last night... thanks guys.