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Baseball's Greatest Season, 1924
With the possible exception of 2004 no season in the history of baseball has matched 1924 for escalating excitement and emotional investment by fans. It began with observers expecting yet another World Series between the Yankees and the Giants. It ended months later when the Washington Nationals (Senators), making their first Series appearance, grabbed the world championship by scoring the season-ending run on an improbable play in the bottom of the twelfth inning of the seventh game.
On the eve of the return of major league baseball to Washington, D.C., Baseball's Greatest Season recovers the memory of the one and only time when the championship of the national pastime resided in the nation's capital.
On the eve of the return of major league baseball to Washington, D.C., Baseball's Greatest Season recovers the memory of the one and only time when the championship of the national pastime resided in the nation's capital.
- GenresBaseball
232 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2003
About the author
Reed Browning
7 books3 followersReed Browning is a retired history professor, and author of books on history and baseball.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 15, 2018
The greater use of statistics to alter approaches to hitting, lineup construction, and fielding alignment. A revolution in the utilization of the bullpen. A league-wide surge in power. There are some interesting parallels between baseball in 1924 and today.
Reed Browning makes an interesting argument for why the 1924 season was, in his view, the greatest season ever - a tight pennant race in the AL and NL that came down to the last games of the season; the first great bullpen ace; tremendous individual performances (including Rogers Hornsby's .424 season); all culminating in a World Series that pitted the underdog Washington Senators utilizing the going out of fashion Inside Baseball offensive approach (they only hit 22 homeruns as a team) against the modern perennial powerhouse New York Giants. The remarkable World Series, featuring 7 games in 7 days, including games 1 and 7 which went to extra innings. Somehow the Senators (aka Nationals) won the series despite committing 12 errors, being outscored for the series and losing both of Walter Johnson's starts.
I like Browning's approach - his argument is that each baseball season should have a book written about it. He alternates chapters - one that covers the narrative for a portion of the season, alternated with a different themed chapter (e.g., the business of baseball; baseball lifestyle), culminating with the World Series. The narrative chapters about the season are the weak point of Browning's approach - it's difficult to cram 1/4th of a season into a chapter and describe happenings in both leagues in clear, easy to follow manner. I did, though, appreciate his insights on the business of baseball and the broader trends.
All in all, a very nice read.
Reed Browning makes an interesting argument for why the 1924 season was, in his view, the greatest season ever - a tight pennant race in the AL and NL that came down to the last games of the season; the first great bullpen ace; tremendous individual performances (including Rogers Hornsby's .424 season); all culminating in a World Series that pitted the underdog Washington Senators utilizing the going out of fashion Inside Baseball offensive approach (they only hit 22 homeruns as a team) against the modern perennial powerhouse New York Giants. The remarkable World Series, featuring 7 games in 7 days, including games 1 and 7 which went to extra innings. Somehow the Senators (aka Nationals) won the series despite committing 12 errors, being outscored for the series and losing both of Walter Johnson's starts.
I like Browning's approach - his argument is that each baseball season should have a book written about it. He alternates chapters - one that covers the narrative for a portion of the season, alternated with a different themed chapter (e.g., the business of baseball; baseball lifestyle), culminating with the World Series. The narrative chapters about the season are the weak point of Browning's approach - it's difficult to cram 1/4th of a season into a chapter and describe happenings in both leagues in clear, easy to follow manner. I did, though, appreciate his insights on the business of baseball and the broader trends.
All in all, a very nice read.
August 8, 2010
I wanted to love this book - I love baseball, I grew up in DC, the 1924 season is the story of Washington's only World Series win, and the greatest pitcher of all time, Walter Johnson, figures prominently in the story.
Until the last chapter, though (which is the World Series itself), the book felt too much like a telegraphic retelling of the season. Each sentence was a new event - maybe a small event - like Kiki Cuyler had 4 hits in a game - but it felt like reading snippets from 154 daily sports roundups. Intersticed between the chapters that laid out the season were chapters that weren't chronological in nature at all (a chapter called 'The Business of Baseball,' a chapter called 'The Players,' etc.), as an attempt to break up the action - but it never gelled.
Still, the end of the season and World Series chapters were compelling and a great read, and brought together disparate sources of the 7-game series (the 7th game went 12 innings, too!) to make a cohesive whole of that part of the book.
There is a waiting list at paperbackswap.com for this book - I waited more than two years to get this book - and I was literally ten pages from the end, with the book riding in my travel bag - when a grape soda I had in a plastic bag in my bag somehow got a tiny hole and leaked out of the plastic bag and onto the bottom corner of the book for all of its 157 pages. Now it's NOT SWAPPABLE. Stupid grape soda. Stupid book for lying in the grape soda.
Until the last chapter, though (which is the World Series itself), the book felt too much like a telegraphic retelling of the season. Each sentence was a new event - maybe a small event - like Kiki Cuyler had 4 hits in a game - but it felt like reading snippets from 154 daily sports roundups. Intersticed between the chapters that laid out the season were chapters that weren't chronological in nature at all (a chapter called 'The Business of Baseball,' a chapter called 'The Players,' etc.), as an attempt to break up the action - but it never gelled.
Still, the end of the season and World Series chapters were compelling and a great read, and brought together disparate sources of the 7-game series (the 7th game went 12 innings, too!) to make a cohesive whole of that part of the book.
There is a waiting list at paperbackswap.com for this book - I waited more than two years to get this book - and I was literally ten pages from the end, with the book riding in my travel bag - when a grape soda I had in a plastic bag in my bag somehow got a tiny hole and leaked out of the plastic bag and onto the bottom corner of the book for all of its 157 pages. Now it's NOT SWAPPABLE. Stupid grape soda. Stupid book for lying in the grape soda.
January 19, 2012
How often do you see a baseball book that's about the Senators? This is a rare look at a team that is not the Yankees, Dodgers or Red Sox. Read this book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews