Crazy ’08

NYT - "Chicago Cub fans, that numerous and inexplicable cohort, have a weird rallying cry: 'Remember 1908!' Not one of them really does remember that season, the last time the Cubs won the World Series. That is all the more reason for them to join Cait Murphy on her jaunty walk through that tumultuous season. All other baseball fans should tag along. So should anyone interested in the rough texture of this bumptious nation in the early 20th century, when 25 cents — not a piddling amount for a low-skilled factory worker making $7 a week — would get you into a ballpark where whiskey, waffles and pigs’ knuckles were served."
NYT: Perfect Season - George F. Will

"A few days later, I started reading Crazy ’08, Cait Murphy’s electrifying tale of the 1908 major league baseball season. The narrative of her insightful, irreverent, illuminating book barrels forward like a high-speed train through a wonderland—you want the train to slow down so you can study the wealth of details flying by, but you can’t help charging ahead to see what’s around the next corner. Even before I was finished I knew the book would be hurtling like that train, or like Ty Cobb, spikes-high, into my personal top ten. I haven’t yet had the privilege of speaking with any of the other authors on my list, but happily for me the newest member, Cait Murphy, was kind enough to answer a few questions about the book, the 1908 season, and her own history in the game."
Cardboard Gods: Interview with Cait Murphy

Mordechai "Three Finger" Brown

"1908 was the greatest season in baseball history. With thrills on the field and drama off the field, the players, the teams, the owners and the times themselves all conspired to make 1908 epochal. Consider: Both leagues had multi-team pennant races that lasted until the last day of the season. Honus Wagner had perhaps the greatest season ever. Christy Mathewson and Mordecai Brown locked horns in fabulous pitching duels throughout the season. Ed Walsh struck out 15 batters in a crucial game early in October, only to lose to Addie Joss's perfect game. Personalities abounded, from Mathewson and John McGraw to Tinker to Evers to Chance. It was Cy Young's last good year, Walter Johnson's first and Ty Cobb's second season."
Hardball Times: Crazy '08

Crazy ’08 by Cait Murphy - "... At first glance, Crazy ’08 by Cait Murphy looks like it’s going to be yet another chronicle of the Lovable Losers. It even takes care to point out in the flap that 1908 is the last time the Cubs won the World Series. But I don’t have to repeat what is often said about judging books by covers, now do I? Amazingly enough, the Cubs aren’t really the focal point of Crazy ’08. Yes, they play a prominent role, but they’re in the book mainly because they just happen to play one of the main roles in the story."
Lit Bases

Frank Chance, Chicago

Crazy ’08 - "From the perspective of 2007, the unintentional irony of Chance's boast is manifest—these days, the question is when will the Cubs ever win a game they have to have. In October 1908, though, no one would have laughed: The Cubs were, without doubt, baseball's greatest team—the first dynasty of the 20th century. Crazy '08 recounts the 1908 season—the year when Peerless Leader Frank Chance's men went toe to toe to toe with John McGraw and Christy Mathewson's New York Giants and Honus Wagner's Pittsburgh Pirates in the greatest pennant race the National League has ever seen. The American League has its own three-cornered pennant fight, and players like Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, and the egregiously crooked Hal Chase ensured that the junior circuit had its moments. But it was the National League's—and the Cubs'—year."
amazon: Crazy '08