A Great Day in Cooperstown: The Improbable Birth of Baseball's Hall of Fame

by Reisler, Jim

• ISBN13: 9780786716258
• ISBN10: 0786716258
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-02-13
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

Using an iconic photo of the Hall of Fame's original inducteesincluding Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Honus Wagner, and Connie Mackas his starting point, Jim Reisler explains the unusual origins of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the process, Reisler delivers a history of not only the game's early stars and the house built to honor them, but also the creation of the myth of baseball in America. With his trademark eye and ear for the spirit of the game's golden age, Reisler explains that the construction of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York was as much an attempt to revive the economy of a struggling draught-ravaged farming town at the height of the Depression as it was a tribute to the national pastime. The brain child of Stephen Clark, an heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune, and business man Alexander Cleland, the museum was a seemingly simple enough plan from a logistical perspective (as "an interesting museum" full of "funny old uniforms"), but actually required a strategic blend of bureaucratic maneuvering, creative storytelling, and good old fashioned panache to pull-off. A Great Day in Cooperstown will be cherished by baseball fans and Americana enthusiasts alike.

Author Biography

Jim Reisler is the author of Babe Ruth: Launching the Legend, Black Writers/Black Baseball, Babe Ruth Slept Here: The Baseball Landmarks of New York City, and Before They Were the Bombers. Reisler has written for Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, and The New York Times, and recently appeared on the YES Network’s new documentary, History of the Yankees: Moments and Mystique. He is the editor of Guys, Dolls, and Curveballs: Damon Runyon on Baseball. A Pittsburgh native, he lives with his wife and daughter in Irvington, NY.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	xi
CHAPTER 1. "So This Is Where All the Grief Started"	1	(13)
CHAPTER 2: The Plan—"An Interesting Museum (with) Funny, Old Uniforms"	14	(21)
CHAPTER 3. "Dear Mr. Spalding...The American Game of Baseball Was Invented by Abner Doubleday"	35	(19)
CHAPTER 4: "In the Beginning, a Vision and It Came to Pass"	54	(33)
CHAPTER 5: "I Am Overwhelmed" to Make the Hall of Fame	87	(43)
CHAPTER 6. "The Point Is to Get Baseball into the Other Pages as Well as the Sports Page"	130	(14)
CHAPTER 7: An "Embarrassing Revelation" for Baseball	144	(27)
CHAPTER 8: "I Hope It Goes Another One Hundred Years"	171	(19)
CHAPTER 9: A "World Series with the Score Tied Nothing to Nothing in the Ninth Inning"	190	(13)
CHAPTER 10: "I Wouldn't Have Missed It for Anything"	203	(22)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	225	(2)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	227	(4)
INDEX	231