100 Years of the World Series [Hardcover]

At first glance, "100 Years" appears to be a coffee table book, and a great one at that. It is rich with images, not only photographs, but reproductions of ticket stubs, World Series programs, film frames, logos, linescores, newspaper headlines, comic strips--all displayed in a professionally designed layout on glossy pages. The hundreds of photographs are brilliantly reproduced and the selection is terrific. I, too, have to disagree with the first reviewer who said these are commonly found images. In some places where Enders could have gone with a typical image, he often found an alternative photo (ex: for the '75 Series, he didn't go with an image of Fisk in mid-air waving the ball fair, but instead found a photo that better captured the energy of the moment, just after the ball cleared the wall, Fisk coiled on the basepath and the on-deck hitter in full leap along with the crowd behind them). And many of these images I have never seen before--I particularly liked the photo of Schoolboy Rowe sipping from a water fountain in the dugout. The book has humor, too; for example, there's a photo of Mike Schmidt giving George Brett a pat on the ol' hemorrhoids during the 1980 Series.

Alongside the book's aesthetic design is a concise, entertaining, well-written text that doesn't miss too many of the great moments of the Series. Enders has an engaging style and the work clearly draws from thorough research. He goes the extra yard to include the Negro Leagues and the Women's League, and there are features on broadcasters, sports writers, and a list of "Last Outs"--the final batter-and-pitcher matchups of each Series and their results. This work can sit on anyone's reference shelf as the definitive text of the history of the World Series.

Of all the books covering the first 100 Years of the World Series, this is by far the best of the lot. For starters, this is a beautiful book. The photos are very striking--the reviewer who said he had seen all these photographs before doesn't know what he's talking about. Yes, there are some famous photographs here (as there should be) but there are also many photographs that I have never seen before, and I have been reading and writing about baseball history for many years. In addition, Enders's narrative is very lucid and engaging, relating the important events and figures of each series in a style that is at once both informative and engaging. The book also includes sidebars on the Negro Leagues World Series, the 19th Century World Series, as well as interesting articles on the history of Fall Classic broadcasts and World Series ejections. The appendices, which include statistical rankings and box scores for every baseball game, are also very handy and add nicely to the overall package.

All in all, if you are looking for a book on the first 100 years of the World Series to buy, this is without question or qualification the best currently available. Yes, there are a few minor errors, but what book of this size doesn't contain the occasional error? At any rate, those that do appear are not important. (For instance, the previous reviewer who complained that the appendix incorrectly listed the 1918 World Series as being played in Wrigley Field did NOT note that in the main body of the text, in the narrative of that Series, the stadium is clearly identified as Comiskey.)

But such minor issues aside, if you are looking for an illustrative, well-written and well-researched account of the history of the World Series, this is the book. At $19.95, it is a very good bargain.

This coffee-table sized book is certainly fun to gander through, but I wouldn't call it detailed or definitive, as the dust jacket claims. There have been books on the Series featuring play-by-play - but this tome probably has most books on the subject beat in terms of interesting and rarely viewed photography.

Having seen perhaps 60% of these photos in other references, that still left a juicy number that were new for me - Connie Mack in dark suit and derby hat posing with ace pitcher Chief Bender; a fresh-faced Eddie Collins (circa 1910); cops sitting along the wall past dugout at Shibe Park in Philadelphia (1913); Chick Gandil dropping a throw at first base in Game 1 (1919); Tony Lazzeri caught in a rundown between Grover Cleveland Alexander and Les Bell (Game 2, '26); Lou Gehrig taking b.p. ('27) and a great full-page shot of him taking infield ('36); a different view of Mazeroski rounding the bases after his Series-ender ('60); Kirk Gibson in full glory after his Game 5, eighth-inning homer put the Tigers away ('84) - there's enough surprises in here to offset the more familiar and mundane photos that are repeated here and in other histories.

On the other hand, there are numerous errors that you'd think would have been weeded out after four printings in five years. Many errors (too many to list) occur in the line scores. Those are minor annoyances. But what about the errors of omission, and in text, and captions accompanying the photos?

Early on, there's a composite picture of the '03 Boston Americans, and later a team photo of the '06 White Sox. It would be nice if they identified all the players (and not just the player-manager and one other player).

Why does a photo of fans lining up for Series tickets at the Polo Grounds (presumably '05), show up in the text for the '03 Series (when the Giants weren't there)?

Babe Adams didn't pitch three shutouts in the '09 Series as caption states (p. 27, although he did win three games, with one shutout).

An interesting photo (p. 47) shows the umpires for the 1913 Series (but doesn't mention they're named from right to left - I'm guessing the editors didn't know). So if you assume the photo is naming the figures from left to right (as per usual) you'd be misidentifying all four umpires (including the first two umpires inducted into the Hall of Fame - Bill Klem and Tom Connolly).

One glaring blunder on p. 32 shows a photo which claims to be Frank "Home Run" Baker, when it is actually Rube Oldring. Moreover, there's a pretty good picture of Baker on p. 8, and you'd think the editors could compare the two photos and realize they're not the same player. The error is then compounded with the caption under Oldring's photo (which claims to be Baker) stating, "Although he was normally a left-handed batter, this photo shows Baker taking his practice swings right-handed." Tsk, tsk. I guess you'd call that a creative way to mask the mistake. Baker and Oldring did play on the same team, though, so I guess that's considered "close enough."

A well-recognized photo (p. 124) of four Yankees after their Game 2 Series victory ('50) names Joe DiMaggio and Allie Reynolds, but neglects to mention the other two players (Gene Woodling and Jerry Coleman). Is it too much to ask an editor to name all four players prominently displayed? Would that require too much of his time to research it?

The text to the '66 Series states that when the Orioles shut out the Dodgers three straight times, it was a "World Series first." Of course, the Giants famously shut out the Philadelphia Athletics three straight times way back in 1905.

Some might say that pointing out mistakes or omissions is being picky - but I noticed them just in a half-hour or so of perusing the book - there's undoubtedly many others. This wasn't a first effort baseball book from this editor - he's done others. Plus, this 2007 edition is a fourth printing, according to the copyright. There were several years to correct the errors.

Still, the book does have eye appeal, and the paper is thick and glossy. I'll probably tackle the text more closely at a later date - as several errors and omissions popped out at me, I'm probably a little cynical about reading on for pleasure.