Baseball’s Greatest Comeback: The Miracle Braves of 1914

Baseball historian and university professor Ross delivers an exciting look at one of the greatest come-from-behind pennant races, when the 1914 Boston Braves, a “perennial woeful team,” rose from last place to defeat the New York Giants, “one of the most dominant teams of all time, for the National League crown. Ross’s fact-filled but fast-moving account actually completes a double play of its own, skillfully connecting the “Deadball Era” of the early 20th century—when pitchers “served up to batters a cut, tobacco-stained, dirt-worn, uneven, split-laden sphere so unhittable that teams scored only a few runs per game—with the reform-minded values of the Progressive Era. Along the way, Ross also includes many entertaining stories, most notably the tale of how manager George Stallings got under the skin of Connie Mack, one of “baseball’s great gentlemen,” when the Braves successfully battled Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series. (Aug.)