Fifty-nine in '84 - Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, and the Greatest Season a

"First-class narrative history that can stand with everything Steven Ambrose wrote. . . . Achorn''s description of the utter insanity that was barehanded baseball is vivid and alive." -- Boston Globe "A beautifully written, meticulously researched story about a bygone baseball era that even die-hard fans will find foreign, and about a pitcher who might have been the greatest of all time." -- Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer prize-winning historian In 1884 Providence Grays pitcher Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn won an astounding fifty-nine games--more than anyone in major-league history ever had before, or has since. He then went on to win all three games of baseball''s first World Series. Fifty-nine in ''84 tells the dramatic story not only of that amazing feat of grit but also of big-league baseball two decades after the Civil War--a brutal, bloody sport played barehanded, the profession of uneducated, hard-drinking men who thought little of cheating outrageously or maiming an opponent to win. Wonderfully entertaining, Fifty-nine in ''84 is an indelible portrait of a legendary player and a fascinating, little-known era of the national pastime.

About the author

Edward Achorn, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for distinguished commentary, is the deputy editorial pages editor of the Providence Journal.

Product details

• Authors: Edward Achorn, Achorn Edward
• Publisher: Harper Perennial USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 22.02.2011
• EAN: 9780061825873
• ISBN: 978-0-06-182587-3
• No. of pages: 400
• Dimensions: 135 mm x 203 mm x 26 mm
• Subjects: Guides > Sport > Ball sport; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > General, dictionaries; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Rich & Famous, Autobiography: historical, political and military, Association football (Soccer), Autobiography: arts and entertainment, HISTORY: United States / 21st Century, SPORTS & RECREATION: History, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Sports, SPORTS & RECREATION: Baseball / History, SPORTS & RECREATION: Soccer, SPORTS & RECREATION: Baseball / Essays & Writings, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Rich & Famous, HISTORY: Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Memoirs