Book Review: Crazy '08

The book cover reads "How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History."  After reading the book, I would say this statement really does sum up the remarkable 1908 baseball season. 
Author Cait Murphy has done an astonishing job in bringing the story of this wild season to life with such detail that at times you feel like you can almost smell the locker room or the ever present pungent tobacco juice. Baseball has always been a game of statistics and Murphy uses them extensively, but in a way that tells a story rather than just facts and figures. She paints a picture with her facts to give the reader a clear view of what baseball and America were like a century ago.

When we watch a game today, we see players with high tech gloves, fields as manicured as putting greens and fans well separated from the players. At the turn-of-the-century we learn gloves were a new idea and those that were used were most likely primitive handmade examples. Bats were heavier, players played on uneven dusty fields and most of all, enthusiastic fans were often in the middle of the action. 

The players were characters larger than life with great nicknames like Piano Man, Wee Willie, Rube and the descriptive "Three Fingers" Brown. Some of the names like Honus Wagner and John McGraw are still legendary, while others have long since been forgotten. These men, many of whom came from hardworking immigrant families, were the toughest to every play the game and their managers were even tougher.  

America was coming of age in 1908 and so was baseball.  The game was drawing record crowds and new ball parks were being built to house the growing fan base. The newspapers loved the wildness of the game, the extremely colorful characters and every little controversy that evolved during the intense 1908 season.  Fans were passionate about their teams and disagreements or celebrations often spilled over into the streets.

A century after this incredible season, it is fun to follow Murphy's rollercoaster ride through the pennant race.  Her extensive research can slow the story down at times, but usually the nuances spiral to build up to a pivotal game or event. The book is filled with wonderful tales of heroic players, greedy owners and callus managers. The reader gets an amazing behind the scenes look into the daily life of ball players, and how a season builds from spring training to a madcap championship game.

This is a book any baseball fan should read, especially as a new season of Major League baseball is about to start. Play Ball!