My Amazon Review of Kevin Baker's "The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City"

Play Ball

As a kid growing up in 1950’s Queens, I was totally immersed in baseball, especially the Brooklyn Dodgers. Kevin Baker has written a marvelous history of the game against the backdrop of a growing New York City. He starts out by refuting the idea that Abner Doubleday invented baseball. Indeed, it was invented as a street game in 1840’s New York and grew from there.

 

Though interesting the history of the early game didn’t hold a candle to what came in the early 1900’s. His description of the early New York Giants with its great manager John McGraw and its great pitcher Christy Mathewson is fantastic. McGraw’s teams dominated the game for two decades. All the while New York City was exploding with dynamism by building subways, the Hudson Tubes (now PATH), East River bridges, Penn Station, and Grand Central Station.

 

Of course, all of this development was under the aegis of Tammany Hall with all of the corruption that entailed. In the siting of all three New York ball parks, Polo Grounds, Ebbets Field and Yankee Stadium the fingerprints of Tammany Hall were present. Baker highlights the role of Tammany’s Big Tim Sullivan, the vice-lord of lower Manhattan. However, he fails to discuss the role of his boss, Charles Murphy, the chief sachem of Tammany Hall with no explanation given.

 

Although the White Sox were located in Chicago, the big fix of the 1919 World Series originated in New York under the auspices of Arnold Rothstein. In the early days of baseball corruption was more than casual.

 

As we go into the 1920’s the Yankees catch fire with the arrival of Babe Ruth. In the celebrity culture of the 1920’s Ruth was one of the greats, blasting home runs in every major league ballpark. The 1927 Yankees with Ruth backed up by Lou Gehrig, was perhaps the greatest team ever. Rivaling the 1920’s Yankee team was the late 1930’s Yankee team that feature jolting Joe DiMaggio who brought joy to Great Depression New York.

 

There is little discussion of the Dodgers until the Brooklyn Trust takes over the team and installs new management in 1938. From there on the Dodgers become a dynasty especially after luring away Branch Rickey from the St. Louis Cardinals to become its general manager.

Baker highlights the Jim Crow rules of baseball that kept African American players off the field. He discusses the great stars of the Negro Leagues who would have had fantastic careers in the major leagues. Unfortunately, that won’t be remedied until 1947 with the arrival of Jackie Robinson. Baseball and New York post-1945 will be the subject of volume two.

 

There is also a very important business lesson to be learned from the book. The Yankee’s Jacob Rupert continually reinvested in the team, built a farm system, and heavily invested in scouting for new players. Branch Rickey did the same thing at St. Louis and brought that magic to Brooklyn. Rickey signed players in the early 1940’s knowing that they would be drafted. Yet when the war ended, they would become the core of the new Brooklyn Dodgers. In contrast the Stonham family who ran the Giants failed to invest in the team, despite having great players like Carl Hubbell and Mel Ott, to regain their successes of the early 1900’s.

 

Kevin Baker’s history is lively and keeps the reader engaged. If I had one bone to pick, I would have displayed the annual statistics of the key players he discussed. Perhaps in volume two he will do that. 

For the full amazon URL see: Play Ball (amazon.com)