Ron McCulloch

As an enthusiast of the period, I always welcome another entrant into the field of dead-ball era baseball, but this book is a pretty sloppy production. It is trifurcated into sections on the leagues of the day, the players, and the clubs, the lastmost being the most interesting to me. Obviously, the selector had to draw lines somewhere, but I certainly missed such fine players and colorful personalities as Patsy Donovan, Nixey Callahan, Wild Bill Donovan, and .Ginger Beaumont. I also disagree with some of the author's interpretations and conclusions, but that's inevitable. What will really drive one up a tree is the collapse of spelling standards herein; some players have their names spelled two different ways on the same page, and of all players to misspell, surely The Old Roman, who of course appears every few pages in a book such as this, was one of the most egregious (as well as an easy name to spell) to start out with. Another bothersome inconsistently is that the National Association is sometimes in, sometimes out. In a world and on a topic where the world has David Nemec on the job, this really isn't the book of choice.… (more)