Roger Kahn, Donald Honig and David Halberstam are some of the names on the
short list for of the greatest baseball authors. Someone who is making a
serious run at that distinction is Glenn Stout, who is submitting another entry
to his resume with The Selling of the Babe:
The Deal that Changed Baseball and Created a Legend (Thomas Dunne Books)—an outstanding take on
the Bambino’s famous sale from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees.
Stout is a prolific author and editor, particularly related
to the Red Sox. Previous books include Red
Sox Century and Fenway 1912,
which are seminal works related to team history. He combines comprehensive
research with an enjoyable and story-telling style of writing. The Selling of the Babe possesses all
those qualities and gets down to the nitty gritty when it comes to perhaps the
most infamous (and often inaccurately remembered) transaction in baseball
history.
Too many baseball books get caught up in the legend of the
players and stories. Stout pulls no punches while he lays out the truth. In The Selling of the Babe, he sets the
record straight on a number of topics, including how Babe Ruth
was a selfish player who often looked out for himself and his bank account
before his team; how former Red Sox owner Harry Frazee was actually a fairly
competent front office man whose ownership was impacted more by tense league
politics than his first love of the theatre; and how the sale of Ruth to the
Yankees was initially not seen as that much of a one-sided deal.
Unfortunately, over time, the story of Ruth’s departure from
Boston has taken on mythic proportions. The slugger is typically depicted as an
aw shucks child-like bumpkin whose star was just starting to surge towards its
zenith when he was sent to New York by a greedy owner who was only concerned
with being flush with enough cash to support his Broadway ventures. In
particular, Stout puts great detail in to describing how the ownership of
Frazee was fraught with interference by American League President Ban Johnson,
and how when he fought back, created a power dynamic that helped force the sale
of Ruth in order to maintain control of his team.
The birth of America’s obsession with the home run is
another running theme. When Ruth first broke into the majors he was an
excellent left-handed pitcher. At that time, baseball was in its Deadball era,
and of the few home runs that were hit, many were of the inside the park
variety. As the Babe was given increasing opportunities with the bat and showed
an acumen to hitting long drives, the game was quite literally changed forever
as fans sat at the edge of their collective seats to see what he might do next.
Components for any good baseball book include good research
and detail. Stout achieves both in The
Selling of the Babe, including comprehensive end notes for the buffs who
may want to delve even further into particular aspects of the story. Those
looking to read something about a curse or the traditional storybook version of
Ruth’s sale will be disappointed. However, those wanting a well-written and
detailed account of one of the most impactful and famous events in baseball
history will be deeply satisfied.
So much has been written about baseball over the years that
it can be difficult to find something that you feel you’re reading for the
first time. While Stout tackles a subject that many people know, he is able to
give it a fresh spin, which has resulted in a true home run.
Disclaimer: I was provided with
a free advanced copy of this book, but received no payment or other
consideration for this review.
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Children’s book awards