Overview

At the dawn of the roaring twenties, baseball was struggling to overcome two of its darkest moments: the death of a player during a Major League game and the revelations of the 1919 Black Sox scandal. At this critical juncture for baseball, two teams emerged to fight for the future of the game. They were also battling for the hearts and minds of New Yorkers as the city rose in dramatic fashion to the pinnacle of the baseball world. 1921 captures this crucial moment in the history of baseball, telling the story of a season that pitted the New York Yankees against their Polo Grounds landlords and hated rivals, John McGraw’s Giants, in the first all–New York Series and resulted in the first American League pennant for the now-storied Yankees’ franchise. Lyle Spatz and Steve Steinberg recreate the drama that featured the charismatic Babe Ruth in his assault on baseball records in the face of McGraw’s disdain for the American League and the Ruth-led slugging style. Their work evokes the early 1920s with the words of renowned sportswriters such as Damon Runyon, Grantland Rice, and Heywood Broun. With more than fifty photographs, the book offers a remarkably vivid picture of the colorful characters, the crosstown rivalry, and the incomparable performances that made this season a classic.

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9780803220607

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Reviews

1921 is an incredibly comprehensive look at a pivotal baseball season---for the sport, for New York, for an America finally distancing itself from war. Steve Steinberg and Lyle Spatz have created a mosaic of a year in baseball that is both illuminating and entertaining. Frank Deford Two decades into the twentieth century, much of baseball was still playing a turn-of-the-century game. 1921 represents one of the pivot points in baseball history, as the old style and its proponents, embodied by John McGraw and his Giants, began to give way to what would become the modern game, as embodied by Babe Ruth and his Yankees. Bob Costas This is Lyle Spatz's and Steve Steinberg's sweet spot---nobody reports on this era better than they do, and the cast of characters from 1921 remains fun, combative, and ready for baseball to become big business. Marty Appel, author of Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain and former Yankees PR director

1921 is a well crafted and enjoyable read that is highly recommended. -Bill Lamb, SABR Black Sox Scandal Research Committee Newsletter -- Bill Lamb SABR Black Sox Scandal Research Committee Newsletter

"""1921 is an incredibly comprehensive look at a pivotal baseball season---for the sport, for New York, for an America finally distancing itself from war. Steve Steinberg and Lyle Spatz have created a mosaic of a year in baseball that is both illuminating and entertaining."" Frank Deford ""Two decades into the twentieth century, much of baseball was still playing a turn-of-the-century game. 1921 represents one of the pivot points in baseball history, as the old style and its proponents, embodied by John McGraw and his Giants, began to give way to what would become the modern game, as embodied by Babe Ruth and his Yankees."" Bob Costas ""This is Lyle Spatz's and Steve Steinberg's sweet spot---nobody reports on this era better than they do, and the cast of characters from ""1921 ""remains fun, combative, and ready for baseball to become big business."" Marty Appel, author of Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain and former Yankees PR director"

Author Information

Lyle Spatz is the author of many books, including Bad Bill Dahlen: The Rollicking Life and Times of an Early Baseball Star and Yankees Coming, Yankees Going: New York Yankee Player Transactions, 1903 through 1999. Steve Steinberg is the author of Baseball in St. Louis, 1900–1925 and numerous articles on early twentieth-century baseball, including feature articles for the annual New York Yankees official yearbooks. Charles C. Alexander is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Ohio University. He is the author of several baseball books, including Spoke: A Biography of Tris Speaker and John McGraw (available in a Bison Books edition).

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