Baseball's Greatest Season, 1924

By Reed Browning

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1558494871
• ISBN13: 9781558494879
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.3" x 9.2"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

The Life & Times of Baseball, 1924

Reed Browning's "Baseball's Greatest Season, 1924" makes the assertion that, given the close pennant races in both leagues, the 1924 season is the greatest in history. I thought that 1908 was pretty good, maybe the best, but Browning does have some convincing arguments for 1924: it was a watershed year for baseball, after World War I, the lively ball, the rookies and near rookies who began then or were breaking in around that time, and the last major scandal involving the throwing of games. Plus, it had a very exciting World Series involving a first time league champion versus one that had just won its league for the fourth time in a row. Browning constructed his book in an interesting way, alternating the happenings of the sixteen teams during the year with the off-the-field aspects of baseball during that time. It is an effective way of getting a well-rounded picture of the total baseball scene for 1924. For example, a chapter may cover the period from Memorial Day to the 4th of July, and the surges and failings of the pennant contenders and second division teams are outlined. The next chapter may be about the business of baseball in the mid-1920s: how the money was earned by each club, how it was spent, and how much might be spent on which items. There are some that may find this kind of information less interesting than pennant races, or a distraction to the flow of the book, but there are also those who find this information interesting and may enjoy this slight break in the 1924 season to get an overall view of baseball in that era. Overall, it is most interesting book, one that has the drama of exciting pennant races, the joy of a national hero making his first World Series appearance, a seven-game contest between contrasting styles of play, extra inning dramatics several times during the Series, unexpected quirks of fate in the last game, and, as in all good plots, a surprising ending. It's definitely a good book to read.