May 13, 2008

Davidoff On New 1918 Red Sox Book

Newsday baseball columnist Ken Davidoff, on "When Boston Still Had The Babe: The 1918 World Champion Red Sox":
What amazed me is just how different these players' worlds were. ... These guys would play exhibition games on off days, just to make a few extra bucks. They would play minor-league ball for years and years after their time in the majors, because it's not like they saved enough money to retire comfortably. ... There was so little power in the game. There were no people of color in the game, either.

I am a complete sucker for this kind of stuff. I love that there are people willing to invest so much time and effort to learn about players from the past, both distant and recent. If you're like me, I recommend this book (or, you could wait for the Mets and/or Dodgers books that are coming).
I wrote three bios for the book -- Babe Ruth, Carl Mays and Walt Kinney -- as well as the book's introduction. Although the post says the book is out in June, but it's available now.