Baseball has always been an interest in my life. I happen to know a lot about what has happened recently in the sport and a few things from the past, but after reading this book I learned a lot more. .
The objective of the author, David Craft, was to bring information out in a written form so people like me could learn and enjoy baseball's past. Craft was very informative of when pro baseball was started and how it came to be the sport it is today. He also included important circumstances and statistics that lead to pinnacle moments in baseball that I have never heard of, and left me astonished after reading them. Some of those great moments and statistics are remarkable even for someone to do it in today's game of baseball. .
The book starts out in 1900 when statistics actually started to be recorded. From 1900-1919 the book talks about how the National League, the only professional league at the time, was full of great pitchers and moderately good batters. It states that the bats that were used then were really heavy and long, thus leading to less homeruns and more strikeouts. One of the best things to happen to baseball was the creating of another professional league, the American league, in 1901. This league was actually a minor league called the Western League. A man by the name of Byron Bancroft Johnson, "Ban", took this minor league, cleaned it up, enticed players from the National league to move over, and ended creating a rival league to the National league. Now having two major league teams, the fans wanted a championship between the leagues. Leading to a World Series, which is still held today. Of course, the book talks about the legend Babe Ruth and how he came to be probably the most commonly known to baseball as Michael Jordan to basketball. Babe Ruth eventually went on to hit 60 homeruns, which was thought to never be surpassed, before he retired in 1935. Another major event that took place in the history of baseball, was when Jackie Robinson broke the "unofficial" color line and signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.