[...]... for a year CRAZY '08 The turning point came in late September The Tigers had ridden a five-game winning streak to overtake the A s As they faced a threegame series in Philadelphia—already known for its aggressive fans— Detroit was anything but complacent The series would go a long way toward settling matters one way or the other The Tigers won the first game, then a rainout and a Sunday the city of. .. as Cait Murphy makes clear, in the history of what was then, without question, our national pastime Crazy ’08 is fun to read, and it’s an education, too To amuse and inform: What more can you ask of a writer? xi Introduction in the dreary months when baseball is sleeping, an easy way to pick a fight with a fan is to ask: What was the best season in baseball history? The 1991 season has its partisans,... league, the pennant is decided on the last day, the culmination of six months of hard-fought and sometimes bitter baseball Baseball in 1908 has riots and deaths; scandal and arrests; the bizarre (stealing first base) and the beautiful (a perfect game); the sublime (the Brown-Mathewson pitching duels) and the ridiculous (anything to do with Rube Waddell) In 1908, players take the vaudeville stage, knockwurst... spring training, for example, isn’t the antiseptic, analytical baseball laboratory of today, nor is it the relaxed, anecdote-telling circuit Red Smith traveled so pleasantly half a century ago It’s a rowdy, ramshackle, often badly organized, sometimes dangerous, sometimes hilarious adventure And it was an integral element of the odd, vigorous world that baseball was part of in 1908, a crucial year, as... misguided) baserunning Here’s an account of a typical deadball-era scoring rally, from a game on May 23, 1908, between Detroit and Washington: 11 CRAZY '08 Schaefer lined one to center for a bag The Dutchman played with Hughes on the baseline until it was demonstrated that Delahanty was to cover second in case a steal was attempted, and then Schaefer and Crawford worked the hit and run Sam soaked the ball... probably true The larger truth, though, was that the O’s were bad for baseball; attendance in Baltimore fell substantially between 1894 and 1896.20 As violence on the field bred brutality in the stands, respectable folk began avoiding the park Women were hardly seen at all At a time when baseball was sinking roots in cities and towns across the country, league attendance 19 CRAZY '08 stagnated during the. .. Philadelphia’s Baker Bowl In the kind of decision that affirms one’s faith in the American judicial system, a judge ruled that a boy who gets a baseball in the bleachers to take home as a souvenir is acting on the natural impulse of all boys and is not guilty of larceny.”17 After that, foul balls were fair game Keeping a few balls clean for a few pitches is the least baseball could do for hitters, a beleaguered... last time in the twentieth century.51 As always, the peskiest task of the hot stove league is to try to improve the team’s prospects It is the season of horse trading, a term that is particularly apt since players have about as much say in their future as the typical four-legged athlete Not that they don’t try In the early 1890s, and again in the early 1900s, the players made a stab at forming a union,... are a permanent feature of the baseball landscape blame the glove for the scoring slump, and disdain it as contrary to the original intent of the founders If God had meant fielders to wear gloves, he would have made their hands of leather In the old days, we didn’t need gloves yada, yada, yada As one 1860s veteran wrote approvingly: We used no mattress on our hands, No cage upon our face; We stood... dicker about the future Even in the depths of winter, there is always a thrumming pulse of wakefulness—deals to make, rules to refine, lies to swap, mangers to fire At the February 1908 annual meeting of the National League, the air at the Waldorf-Astoria fairly reeks of smoke and self-congratulation Baseball is in a most prosperous and healthy condition,” concludes NL president Harry Pulliam in his annual . class="bi x0 y0 w0 h0" alt="" CAIT MURPHY Y '08 How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball. February 1908 annual meeting of the National League, the air at the Waldorf-Astoria fairly reeks of smoke and self-congratulation. Baseball is in a most