Brooks on Books: Let's Read Two

Another baseball doubleheader today, sports fans.

Burying the Black Sox by Gene Carney has to be the definitive book on the notorious Black Sox scandal involving the fix of the 1919 World Series. If you saw the excellent "Eight Men Out," you only got some of the story. If you read Elliot Asinof's book of the same name, you only got part of the story. Carney expands on the work of Asinof and many other less-heralded authors and scholars to create a fascinating, thorough account of the saga.

Carney's title refers to the attempt by Sox owner Charles Comiskey and the powers that be in organized baseball to cover up the scandal. This in itself is an underpublicized aspect of the story, but wait till you read about the 1924 civil trial, which many have no idea even happened. This is a complex tale of disappearing evidence, witness tampering, and all sorts of other shenanigans, and it pretty much worked in containing the damage done by the original scandal.

Carney covers those lesser-known aspects of the reaction to the fix, but he also covers the fix in comprehensive fashion. He even provides a quality analysis of the other books and resources on the subject. He explains his own conclusions quite well, detailing the evidence and allowing readers to draw their own conclusions. I like how he repeats and clarifies information without becoming dull. The multiple trials and conflicting stories make for a tangled drama, but Carney's pleasurable account makes as much sense of it all as is possible. Other than some distracting typos, there is nothing I can criticize here. It's an outstanding achievement and a must-read for anyone interested in the Black Sox.


Wicked Curve: The Life and Troubled Times of Grover Cleveland Alexander by John C. Skipper: This is a fine biography of the Hall of Fame pitcher who, with 373 wins, shares the all-time National League record with Christy Mathewson. The chapters that cover the major league years sometimes get a tad rote with the season summaries, but Alexander's story, sadly, is far more than the dominant seasons he piled up.

His story consists of more even than the defining moment of his career, the relief appearance in Game 7 of the 1926 World Series in which, a day after throwing a complete game, he preserved a Cardinals victory by entering in the seventh and striking out Yankee shortstop Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded.

Alexander suffered from alcoholism and epilepsy, and by the end of his life, the baseball legend was a public relations nightmare for the game, drifting around often without a stable residence or source of income. The sad state of affairs is even more of a downer when you consider that many agree--including Alexander's several-times-married wife--that his harrowing service in World War I caused or at least aggravated those conditions and changed him for life.

Skipper does a nice job of sorting out myths from facts and chronicling "Old Pete's" downward spiral. I enjoyed this book, but, man, is it depressing. The pitcher plays in the major league into his 40s, but once he is out of the majors, he is out. He goes from barnstorming to carnivals to no unemployment. Despite the best efforts of people within the game, like Cardinals owner Sam Breadon, he is unable or unwilling to stay put, and learning about what a nuisance he was--that's a harsh but realistic way to put it--is disheartening. Everyone from Commisoner Kenesaw Landis to then-National League president Ford Frick to Branch Rickey becomes frustrated and unable to keep Alexander out of his troubled life, which includes several hospitalizations for falls/muggings in the wake of seizures/benders (the circumstances are usually murky).

I wish Skipper devoted more than a paragraph or so to "The Winning Team," the sanitized biopic starring Ronald Reagan as Grover Cleveland Alexander. The likable movie motivated me to seek out this book, and since Alexander's wife Aimee was around during its production, there might be something worthwhile there. Otherwise, though, Skipper's biography tells all too much about a great ballplayer who could not vanquish his demons. "Wicked Curve" is a compelling but harrowing read for fans of baseball history.