"Crazy 08" a great price on a potentially good book

[Archive]

Posted By: Donny Muth

I'm ready Crazy '08 right now. I asked for it for Christmas.

In the last few month's I've also read:

Frank Deford's The Old Ballgame: How John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, and the New York Giants Created Modern Baseball

Alexander's biography of Ty Cobb

Mickey Mantle's autobiography

The Gashouse Gang: How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch Rickey, Pepper Martin, and Their Colorful, Come-from-Behind Ball Club Won the World Series--and America's Heart--During the Great Depression by Heidenry.

I've also read October 1964 by Halberstam, but it's been a few years.

Crazy '08 is good, but based on things so far I like most of the others better. Mickey Mantle's autobiography is hilarious. Deford's book has really peaked my admiration for John McGraw. The Gashouse Gang told Dean's story very well. The Ty Cobb autobiography was very detailed in my opinion and has only enhanced my appreciation for what he did for the game. And if I remember right, October 1964 left me realizing that Bob Gibson could possibly have been described best as the "modern day" pitching equivalent of Ty Cobb.

Crazy '08 is written...differently. It offers some historical perspectives interspersed with the baseball stories. The author also isn't shy about dashing some common beliefs about some of the players of those days. Evers & Tinker as examples. But she also goes beyond to Cobb and some other notable names. Some of her stuff will sound almost like heresy to some readers depending on if they are fans of certain teams or players or not. All in all, it's a good read. I would recommend it to others, but I would also highly recommend the other books listed above as well. Of course, I'm not a book critic... just someone who enjoys learning some of the history about the good ole days of a game called baseball.