A review by scottjbaxter
The Old Ball Game: How John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, and the New York Giants Created Modern Baseball by Frank Deford

4.0

Frank DeFord's book gives a look at what he considers the founding of modern baseball with the New York Giants in the first decade or two of the twentieth century. I have mixed feelings about the book because it had many enjoyable incidents and I feel like I learned a good amount; at the same time, DeFord tends to ramble and swithc without warning from journalistic to the vernacular. Here was my favorite line from the book:

[h.L.] Menchen held no more regard for McGraw's occupation [baseball]. "I hate all sports," he once wrote, "as rabidly as a person who likes sports hates common sense."