A Great Day in Cooperstown: The Improbable Birth of Baseball’s Hall of Fame Reviews
A Great Day in Cooperstown: The Improbable Birth of Baseball’s Hall of Fame
Using an iconic photo of the game’s original superstars — a group that included, among others, Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Honus Wagner, and Connie Mack — as his starting point, Jim Reisler explains the unusual origins of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and delivers a delightful history of not only the game’s early stars and the house built to honor them, but also the myth of baseball America. With his trademark eye and ear for the spirit of the game’s golden age, Reisler explains that the const
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Review by David Zimmerman for A Great Day in Cooperstown: The Improbable Birth of Baseball’s Hall of Fame
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For me Reisler’s book was a very timely story, as I read it just before visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in June 2008. He begins with the interesting public relations and (and almost religious) story regarding baseball’s creation myth – that Gen. Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown in 1839, a myth that caused the Hall of Fame to be placed there. The Museum itself both honors the myth and discredits it in neighboring rooms. Also entertaining are Reisler’s accounts of how the first enshrinees handled that first day of immortality in 1939. Even among those who’d spent their working lives before the public, there were some who didn’t quite appreciate the throng that gathered in Cooperstown. A fun puzzle is to try to identify the Hall of Famers on the front cover, both before you read the book and as you go through.
Recommended to baseball fans, particularly to fans of the history and lore of the game. Others might wonder what all the fuss was about, as baseball has been elbowed aside by other sports (pro football in particular) for the adulation of American sports fans. Me, I like baseball.