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Customer Reviews (17)

A nice introduction to two baseball greats
As a lover of not only the game but the history of the game as well, I enjoyed Frank Deford's The Old Ball Game: How John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, and the New York Giants Created Modern Baseball, but I'm a little confused by the title, since there is really nothing in the book that shows how these two baseball greats actually "created" anything.It does give a nice introductory biography of both men and gives us a glimpse into their unlikely friendship.

There's nothing here that can't be found in other sources, but I enjoyed Deford's dry humor and his writing style.I gave it only four stars because it was not as in depth as it might have been but was still a good read.I would recommend it to other fans for the sheer joy of reading about two of the most important figures in the history of the greatest game on earth.

Every Baseball Fan Should Read
This is an incredible book that shows baseball history pre-Babe Ruth. Most think of baseball starting with the Babe, but the reality is, it was going long before he ever played. Kudos to Deford for writing such an incredible book. Who would have ever thought that baseball would shape so much of our modern culture?

Great book about early major league baseball.
I've read quite a few baseball books and this is as good as any of them.Many great anecdotes and they flow just right because line, for line, it's written beautifully.

A Nice Tribute To The Principal Characters, Mathewson & McGraw
Almost everything I have ever read about John McGraw and Christy Mathewson has been very interesting....and this is no exception.

McGraw, tough, raw and profane, managed the New York Giants for years and Matthewson, the All-American boy, was his star pitcher.Both men are in the Hall of Fame are considered, to this day, to be near the top of their professions all-time.

Yeah, Deford obviously has great admiration for both men, but so what?Who doesn't admire "Matty", as a man and a player, and who isn't impressed at "Muggsy's" baseball record?It's simply a character study of one of the most famous "odd couples" in baseball history.

This is not a long, profound study of these men, or baseball or American history, but it's an entertaining book with Deford's unique style of describing things. And you do get a little of all the above, meaning a good flavor of the period.If you're a fan of baseball history, particularly the Deadball Era, this is a good read.

Great Read
Frank Deford takes you there.This book is definitely about baseball and it's evolution around the turn of the century, but it also sits you down in the early 1900's.Historical descriptions of the Manhattan of the day are fascinating.You feel as though you're reading the headlines of the day one minute and sidled up next to the personalities of a very tough time in American history the next minute.If you're interested in baseball this book takes you there.It's so well written you can almost taste the dust in the air sometimes.However, don't be afraid to give it a read for it's historical presentations of New York and Baltimore in the early 1900's. ... Read more

Product Description
When all-time pitching great Christy Mathewson died of tuberculosis in 1925 at the age of 45, it touched off a wave of national mourning that remains without precedent for an American athlete. The World Series was underway, and the game the day after Mathewson's death took on the trappings of a state funeral: officials slowly lowered the flag to ealf-mast, each ballplayer wore a black armband, and fans joined together in a chorus of "Nearer My God to Thee." Newspaper editorials recalled Mathewson's glorious career with the New York Giants, but also emphasized his unstinting good sportsmanship and voluntary service in World War I. The pitcher known to one and all as "Matty" or "Big Six" was as beloved for the strength of character he brought to the national pastime, as for his stunning 373 career victories. "I do not expect to see his like again," said his best friend and former manager, John McGraw. "But I do know that the example he set and the imprint he left on the sport that he loved and honored will remain long after I am gone."

In Matty, Ray Robinson tells the story of a man who became America's first authentic sports hero.Until Mathewson, Robinson reveals, Americans loved baseball, but looked down on ballplayers and other athletes as hard-drinking, skirt-chasing ne'er-do-wells. Deprived of real-life role models, millions of readers followed the serialized exploits of Frank Merriwell, a fictional hero who excelled at sports from baseball to billiards and never drank, smoke, or swore.Robinson shows how an eager public greeted Mathewson as a flesh-and-blood version of Merriwell from his first year at Bucknell University, where he shone as star pitcher, premier field-goal kicker, and class president. Lured into the big leagues before he could graduate, the tall, handsome pitcher soon won over men, women and children with his sense of fair play and his arsenal of blazing fastballs, sweeping curves, and infamously deceptive fadeaway pitches.Robinson skillfully details the highlights of Mathewson's career, including his showdowns against the great batters of his day and his encounters with the young Brooklyn, Chicago, Pittsburgh and St. Louis teams. Here are the six remarkable days in October, 1905 when Mathewson became the only pitcher ever to hurl three straight shutouts in a World Series, and the afternoon at West Point when he won $50 in a bet that he could throw 20 of his best pitches to exactly the same spot.Robinson does not underplay Mathewson's occasional failings, but the most surprising aspect of this fascinating portrait is just how close America's first Hall of Fame pitcher came to living up to his image.

Drawing on rare interviews, press clips, and long overlooked eyewitness accounts, Matty brings baseball's golden age to life--not only the great teams and the early superstars, but the long train trips between games, with cramped berths and no air conditioning; the small town ballplayers let loose amidst big city vice; and the two-bit gambling that eventually led to the infamous Black Sox Scandal of the 1919 Series (a scandal that might have escaped detection if the sportswriters in the press box with Mathewson had not been able to rely on his experienced eye for clues to how ballplayers might throw games). Offering rare insight into the making of an early twentieth century American hero, Matty is must reading for anyone who loves baseball. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Certainly a Hero, and Even a Paragon of Virtue?
Through the end of the 19th century, baseball had a roughshod reputation:Uneducated and unrefined players drove many a respectable family to opt for a picnic instead. One man was the big force in countering that image:New York Giant righthander Christy Mathewson.The quintessentialbaseball hero and a first-year Hall of Famer, he is the subject of this biography by veteran baseball writer Ray Robinson.On the field, Mathewson won 373 games and lost only 188, and he pitched 79 shutouts.As Robinson emphasizes, Matty was the greatest control pitcher of his time, which seemed to be a by-product of his intelligence.In the World Series he was 5-5 but that should have been much better:His ERA was 0.97.Against the Philadelphia A's in the 1905 World Series, Matty pitched three complete-game shutouts, the best pitching performance to this day in the Fall Classic.

Matty grew up in Factoryville, Pennsylvania, and at Bucknell University he achieved academic as well as athletic distinction.Even though he left after his junior year (as Robinson puts it, "he became Bucknell's most famous dropout"), he was seen as baseball's first college boy.Matty was so intent on leading a virtuous life that in addition to moderation in drinking and swearing, he refused to pitch on Sunday. (However, he changed his tune on the subject after his playing career, something I found out first from this book.)In the days when there was only one umpire on the field, an ump who had not gotten a clear view might defer to Matty for the correct call because Matty "had a widespread reputation for integrity and probity."If Matty was not at his best on a given day, Robinson observes, people would speculate that this checkers champion was staying up too late playing the then-popular board game, rather than what might be supposed in the case of modern athletes.

Indeed, Mathewson as presented by Robinson is an authentic virtue-laden scholar athlete.Robinson gathered a lot of quotations, and he enlightens the reader on lesser-known matters such as Christy's days at Bucknell and his World War I experience that led to his premature death from tuberculosis.We even learn that the Giants traveled to Cuba and that Christy pitched against a pitcher nicknamed "the black Mathewson."

Robinson captured the passion of Mathewson's World Series moments --including the heartbreaking defeat in the 1912 World Series.Some moments of Matty's pitching rivalry with Three Finger Brown are included, but after Mathewson beat Brown 1-0 in a 1905 game, it was one of baseball's jinxes that Brown beat him nine straight times (not mentioned by Robinson) while the Cubs were winning pennants.Setting that detail aside, there is something more about Mathewson the reader wants to know.Sure, an occasional failing was acknowledged, and some end-of-book tributes from writers and others were given.But inside the narrative I would have liked to see more concentrated focus on emotional content -- Mathewson's personality, baseball friendships, family life, etc.The Cubs-Giants rivalry could have been given greater scope.But I acknowledge these things are more difficult in writing about old timers, with witnesses dead and limited information at hand. Bottom line:"Matty" is a good studious read for baseball fans with an interest in his era.

The life of Christy Mathewson, a man who did a great deal to change public perceptions of baseball players
It is a historical anomaly that at the end of the nineteenth century the violent game of football was a sport for the privileged gentleman yet baseball was the game of the uneducated, profane and in essence the masses. Football was confined to the college campuses, which at that time, meant it was restricted to the wealthy. Baseball was a popular sport, yet the players were often little more than thugs. Nearly all of the players were from the lower classes, which meant they came from working class backgrounds such as the steel mills or coal mines. Professional baseball players were generally denigrated in society, at that time it was not an occupation that was looked upon as a stellar career.
Christy Mathewson entered the major leagues from college, one of the first players who attended college before playing. He was one of the most intelligent men ever to play the game; he was capable of playing championship caliber checkers against several players simultaneously. Mathewson was also an excellent card player; he regularly accepted challenges from others as he moved from place to place. In his role as a gentleman baseball player, he did a great deal to transform the image of the baseball player from that of an uneducated brute to someone to be emulated. He served as a positive role model for children interested in pursuing a sports career and was idolized by the sports media of the time. Mathewson was also a very good and durable pitcher, his 373 career wins ranks him second all time behind Cy Young and Walter Johnson.
In this book, Robinson captures Mathewson as he was, considered standoffish by some, yet a consummate professional on the mound. His relationship with his manager, the volatile John McGraw, was an unusual one as Mathewson, McGraw and their wives once shared an apartment. Given McGraw's temperament, this would truly be another example of "The Odd Couple." Robinson never apologizes for some of the negative comments made about Mathewson, merely pointing out that many of those instances can be explained by the context of the times. In general the country was uneducated with racial and personal slurs being part of daily speech. Babe and Rube were common nicknames of professional baseball players, being synonyms for naïve and ignorant. A deaf man was given the nickname "Dummy" and a Native American was usually called "Chief."
Mathewson's time was also one of great transition in major league baseball, the American league was formed and considered inferior by the older National league. Players were very poorly paid, a consequence of the reserve clause which bound a player to a team and which allowed him to be traded against his will. Robinson points out that one of the reasons why the World Series was continued is because it was a significant financial windfall for the players. Groups of players also regularly barnstormed around the country and even overseas, in many cases to earn enough money to live.
Mathewson was a charter member of baseball's hall of fame and it is unfortunate that he did not live long enough to be there in person. His health failed him very quickly after he retired from baseball, there is some evidence that the tuberculosis that took his life was brought on by his being gassed during World War I. While he had his faults, compared to those around him, they were few and far between. It has been said that Base Ruth did the most to help make modern baseball what it is today. I agree with that, but also firmly believe that Christy Mathewson occupies second place on that list. His approach to the game and the example he set in life did a great deal to elevate professional baseball players in the mind of the public. His life was an interesting and productive one, you can honor his memory be reading this book and learning all about him.

A Serviceable, Readable Biography, at Best
Ray Robinson is a sports journalist and editor, and this book is very much in the genre of many other conventional sports biographies. It is a good, serviceable biography; but it is far from great. In it, we learn about one of the earliest stars of major league baseball. Christy Mathewson had been born in 1880, attended Bucknell University and gained fame there as both a football and baseball player. He signed with the New York Giants and played sixteen seasons with them; arguably the most dominant pitcher in major league baseball during his time in the Majors. While with the Giants, Mathewson won 20 games thirteen times and 30 games four times. During that same period, he won at least 20 games twelve consecutive years (1903-1914). A power pitcher, Mathewson had the most wins in Giant franchise history (372), and had more than 2,500 strikeouts. Perhaps his most dominant performance came in the 1905 World Series when he pitched a record three shutouts in six days against the Philadelphia Athletics, leading the Giants to the championship.

Robinson does a credible job telling the story of Mathewson's remarkable career. He expends considerable effort narrating the dramatic events of his various pitching performances. He also delves into the story of Mathewson's close relationship with his Giants manager, the legendary John McGraw, who is credited with working effectively with a sensitive and talented player to make him more dominant than he might have been otherwise. Robinson also explores the role Mathewson plays in helping to remake the image of major league baseball from one of rowdy hooliganism into one of the "national pastime." Mathewson served as a model of clean living when the sport was known for its hard-living, hard-drinking players. He became a role model for young boys, and MLB exploited his lifestyle to remake its image. He enthusiastically aided this process, and even wrote a series of boy's books advocating a moral, strenuous lifestyle.

Of course, Mathewson served as the perfect example of "clean living" for MLB because of his dominance on the mound. Accordingly, in 1936 he joined four other MLB legends--Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, and Walter Johnson, none of whom exemplified "clean living"--as the first class of baseball players to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. It was a posthumous induction because Mathewson had died in 1925, at age 45, of tuberculosis.

Ray Robinson has written a solid, readable biography of Matty. I give it three stars because it fails to go beyond the basics of what we already know about him, and has no references or even a bibliography with other works to read on the subject.

Wonderful but not memorable
Ray Robinson does a fine job depicting one of baseball's greatest pitchers from Christy's grand beginnings to his unfortunate plight in the end. The book gives a fair amount of detail about the game's first national idol but lacks punch because of the mostly serene nature of "BIG 6's" life. To the extent that the book is kind of fluffy for its depiction of a man who is nearly perfect-save forincidences like his punching a vendor during a melee-it is almost Rockyesque in that one cannot help but wish they were a personal friend of Christy.It is currently the best I've read on the perfector of the fadeaway.

Please don't just fadeaway...
This is the best effort by Ray Robinson to date.The book starts off slowly but eventually picks up steam.Robinson effectively captures the era but really does not give you an awful lot more.Christy Mathewson was one of the best pitchers ever in my opinion (based on my research).I just wish that Ray Robinson could have confirmed it with the decisiveness one would come to expect from a seasoned author.Instead, I was left to wonder why certain facts were omitted and why he did not do more to make Matty an American Hero.A few more efforts like this and Christy Mathewson and others of his era will emulate his trademark pitch...Fadeaway!Anthony DeMedeiros, Toronto, Ontario ... Read more

Product Description
Christy Mathewson made headlines in the summer of 1905 for his amazing pitching exploits for the New York Giants, but the 25 year old already had an exalted place in public opinion because of his classic handsomeness, his reputation as a college man, and his moral stance in refusing to pitch on Sundays.

Mathewson benefited from a strict Baptist upbringing, natural intelligence, and superb athletic ability. He excelled in tense situations—"pitching in a pinch" he called it—and won 373 games in 17 seasons, all but one of those victories for the Giants. After his playing career, he was a manager, army officer and baseball executive, played a role in the unraveling of the Black Sox, and fought a courageous battle against tuberculosis. He did not have a flawed personality like Ty Cobb, nor was he larger-than-life like Babe Ruth; rather, he was a man with a keen sense of honor and responsibility for both private and public obligations. This biography documents in great depth his life on and off the baseball field, and draws from sources, old and new, to let Mathewson’s life speak for itself. Not many sports figures can withstand such scrutiny. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Quick read, a bit flawed, but interesting and fair
I recently purchased a few modern biographies of baseball players, and this was the best of the lot by a wide margin. It's not the most exciting biography I've ever read, but it covers Mathewson's career without a lot of extraneous personal life fluff or other modern biography madness. Short, easy, enjoyable read which manages to stick to baseball; it probably helps that Mathewson never got involved with any movie stars and wasn't able to sell autographs for seven kazillion dollars each.

But quite frankly, the publisher's proofreader needs to be beaten with a cluestick. (I strongly suspect Word was the sole proofreader.) Far too many spelling errors (rather, "correctly" spelled but incorrect words), partially-duplicated sentences, cut-up sentences which don't make any sense at all, and several other minor nits. This sort of mess is difficult to excuse, as it looks as if the book were published straight from the writer's final manuscript with little or no editing. It's certainly not unreadable, but the errors are a surprise.

A Giant Giant!
Mike Hartley has written an outstanding book about Giant's pitcher Christy Mathewson.I'm not much of a baseball fan, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book.Mathewson was one of Pennsylvania's finest, an ace pitcher, and a fine gentleman.It's no surprise that Mike Hartley would choose to write about a figure like Mathewson.Mike, too, is one of Pennsylvania's finest, and a gentleman of high moral character.(I don't know if he's an ace pitcher, but he probably could be if he set his mind to it.)Mathewson stayed on high moral ground throughout his life, while many professional baseball players were drunks, gamblers, womanizers, cheaters, and the like.Author Hartley has managed to do the same, even though he spends much of the year on ships crewed by heavy drinkers, gamblers, profaners, and womanizers.You should buy...and read...this book, if for no other reason than to honor two fine gentlemen:Christy Mathewson and Mike Hartley.You might also want to check out my books (Although I'm not nearly as fine a gentleman as Mike Hartley.But I am a sailor.And I need the royalty money.Thanks.) ... Read more

Product Description
During his remarkable 17-year career (1900-1916), Christy Mathewson was the dominant pitcher in the National league. His 373 wins stand as the third highest total in baseball history. Mathewson was a gentleman, a rarity in the raucous world of baseball at the turn of the century, and a favorite among fans.

Game by game, the remarkable career of this Hall of Fame hurler is analyzed. Interwoven are tales of his personal life and the colorful characters who were a part of baseball in the early 1900s--like John McGraw, Joe McGinnity, Rube Marquard, Bugs Raymond. Appendices give records and milestones. Includes illustrations, notes, bibliography and index. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

turn-of-the-century
I liked this book pretty much. It tells a lot about Matty's baseball career and opens a window into the National League from 1900-15. It doesn't tell very much about Mathewson's personal life though. All in all its worth a read if you like baseball history and/or Christy Mathewson. ... Read more

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Publisher: New York : Grosset ... Read more

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I -The Most Dangerous Batters I Have Met
II - "Take Him Out"
III - Pitching in a Pinch
IV - Big League Pitchers and Their Peculiarities
V - Playing the Game from the Bench
VI - Coaching Good and Bad
VII - Honest and Dishonest Sign Stealing
VIII - Umpires and Close Decisions
IX - The Game that Cost a Pennant
X - When the Teams Are in Spring Training
XI - Jinxes and What They Mean to a Ball-Player
XII - Base Runners and How They Help a Pitcher to Win
XIII - Notable Instances Where the "Inside" Game Has Failed
... Read more

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This children's book was published in 1910.

Written by the famous pitcher of the New York Giants, this is the first of a series for boys on sports to be known as The Matty Books. ... Read more

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Chapters: Pete Rose, Cy Young, Frank Robinson, Christy Mathewson, Mickey Cochrane, Branch Rickey, Hughie Jennings, Mel Ott, Frankie Frisch, Billy Southworth, Ray Schalk, Lou Boudreau, Joe Cronin, Gabby Hartnett, Arlie Latham. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 108. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: As player As manager Peter Edward Rose (born April 14, 1941) is a former Major League Baseball player and manager. Rose played from 1963 to 1986, and managed from 1984 to 1989. Rose, a switch hitter, is the all-time Major League leader in hits (4,256), games played (3,562), at-bats (14,053) and outs (10,328). He won three World Series rings, three batting titles, one Most Valuable Player Award, two Gold Gloves, the Rookie of the Year Award, and made 17 All-Star appearances at an unequaled five different positions (2B, LF, RF, 3B ... Read more

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Chapters: Hoyt Wilhelm, Cy Young, Darryl Kile, Nolan Ryan, Christy Mathewson, Sandy Koufax, Jim Bunning, Fernando Valenzuela, Eddie Cicotte, Dave Stieb, Bob Gibson, Carlos Zambrano, James Bunning, Tom Seaver, Gaylord Perry, Walter Johnson, A. J. Burnett, Dwight Gooden, Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, Hideo Nomo, John Clarkson, Mark Buehrle, Jim Bibby, Amos Rusie, Kenny Rogers, John Montgomery Ward, Dennis Eckersley, Ken Holtzman, Clay Buchholz, Bert Blyleven, Bob Feller, Jim Palmer, Derek Lowe, George Mullin, Milt Pappas, Hugh Daily, Jon Lester, Lew Burdette, Justin Verlander, Carl Hubbell, Wes Ferrell, Kevin Brown, Jack Morris, Phil Niekro, Al Leiter, Aníbal Sánchez, Smoky Joe Wood, Bret Saberhagen, Bob Lemon, Vida Blue, Dock Ellis, Adonis Terry, Jim Abbott, Ray Caldwell, Charles Radbourn, Tom Browning, Ed Walsh, Bo Belinsky, Dave Righetti, Bill Singer, Dutch Leonard, Bill Dinneen, Carl Erskine, Addie Joss, Burt Hooton, Dave Stewart, Matt Kilroy, Clyde Wright, Tony Mullane, Rick Wise, Joe Horlen, Don Wilson, Mike Scott, Chief Bender, Dazzy Vance, Howard Ehmke, Jonathan Sánchez, Ted Breitenstein, Terry Mulholland, Dean Chance, Allie Reynolds, Jerry Reuss, Rube Marquard, Sal Maglie, Kevin Millwood, Steve Barber, Ed Cushman, Eric Milton, Ted Lyons, Charlie Ferguson, Don Cardwell, Earl Wilson, Dick Bosman, Gus Weyhing, Scott Erickson, Claude Hendrix, Sam Jones, Stu Miller, Wilson Alvarez, Pud Galvin, Al Atkinson, Larry Dierker, Sad Sam Jones, Virgil Trucks, Larry Corcoran, George Bradley, Blue Moon Odom, Bill Monbouquette, Lon Warneke, Tom Phoebus, Ben Sanders, Vic Willis, Bill Stoneman, John Candelaria, Jay Hughes, Dick Burns, Ed Lafitte, Kent Mercker, Bullet Joe Bush, Jim Tobin, Earl Hamilton, Deacon Phillippe, Jim Colborn, Ewell Blackwell, Steve Busby, Nap Rucker, Guy Hecker, Rube Foster, Mel Parnell, Johnny Vander Meer, Ray Washburn, Lee Richmond, Henry Porter, Dave Morehead, Ramón Martínez, Bill Hawke, Bumpus Jones, Walter Tho...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=84625 ... Read more

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Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Jim Thorpe, Lefty O'doul, Christy Mathewson, Carl Hubbell, Tim Keefe. Non illustré. Mises à jour gratuites en ligne. Extrait : Jacobus Franciscus « Jim » Thorpe, né le 28 mai 1887 à Prague (Oklahoma) et mort le 28 mars 1953 à Lomita (Californie), était un joueur et un dirigeant de football américain, un joueur de baseball, un athlète et un acteur américain. Considéré comme l'un des plus grands athlète du siècle, Wa Tho Huck (« Sentier Brillant ») est né dans la réserve des Sac and Fox en Oklahoma. Sa date de naissance reste une controverse : la date de 1888 est également souvent utilisée. Son ascendance est riche : un grand-père irlandais, un autre français et des grands-mères indiennes de différentes tribus. Il fait des études à l'université indienne de Carlisle avec laquelle il participe aux compétitions de football américain, de baseball, lacrosse ou athlétisme. C'est ainsi qu'il se fait connaître au niveau national en conduisant son équipe de football au titre national universitaire en 1912. Il participe alors aux Jeux olympiques d'été de Stockholm. Il y remporte le pentathlon (saut en longueur, lancer du javelot, , lancer du disque, et ) puis le décathlon. Mais, en 1913, ces médailles lui sont retirées : il est soupçonné d'avoir touché de l'argent dans des épreuves de baseball avant les Jeux et il est radié à vie. Ces médailles ne lui seront rendues à titre posthume que 29 ans après sa mort, en 1982. Il se tourne alors vers le baseball. il rejoint les Giants de New York en 1913 pour 3 saisons. Il jouera ensuite pour les Reds de Cincinnati puis à nouveau les Giants, les Braves de Boston. Il continuera ensuite de jouer dans les ligues mineures jusqu'en 1922. En parallèle, il joue au football américain chez les Bulld...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

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The first two decades of the 20th century were a time of promise and innocence in America. Hardworking immigrants could achieve the American dream, and heroes were really heroic. Greenberg authentically chronicles the real-life saga of the first national baseball hero, Christy Mathewson, and the fictional story of a Jewish immigrant family of jewelers.Amazon.com Review
In the Ragtime tradition of revolving a fictional worldaround a factual core, Greenberg's 1983 novel is a polished gem, whichis fitting because it is partly built around a jeweler. Though TheCelebrant never caught on much with the general public, itsadherents were virtual zealots; to them, reading the novel bordered onhaving a religious experience. Its sophisticated weaving together ofthe life of Christy Mathewson, the Giants' great hurler and rolemodel, with a family of immigrant Jews in New York in the firstquarter of the 20th century captured their imaginations--then sadlydisappeared for almost a decade before its welcome reissue.

On thesurface, The Celebrant is obviously a baseball story--many of"Matty's" greatest on-field feats are meticulously recreated--as wellas a story of how deeply the game reached into the lives of newarrivals from the Old World desperate to become American. On a deeperlevel, it is a stunning meditation on the fragile balance between theheroism of a man who won World Series rings and the hero worship ofthe young jeweler who made those rings for him. Its simplicity isdeceptive. The Celebrant does much more than celebrate; itpaints the corners of another era and another ethos with the commandand control Matty himself was known to exhibit. --JeffSilverman ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Let me catch my breath!
When my friend (and fellow baseball lover) recommended this book to me his eyes were shining. Now I know why. What a marvelous weaving of fiction and fact! Such wonderful character development! My heart was racing throughout this book. You should be at least a little bit into baseball to enjoy the thrilling descriptions of the games and the players, but be assured that you will also get an interesting and touching Jewish American family story as well.

Celebrant of The Celebrant
There's little to add to the many glowing comments recorded here, except to say that as historical fiction focused on baseball, this book contains all that is great about the American novel, it vividly recreates the time period, it has strong character development and it conjures vivid images about the sport its protagonist celebrates.Guess there was plenty to say...

baseball, dark and glimmering
Eric Rolfe Greenberg's The Celebrant gives us not only a fictional account of the career of Christy Mathewson, the great New York Giants pitcher of the early 1900s, but also a revealing look into hero-worship, all through the eyes and voice of a young jeweler who designs rings to celebrate Christy's masterful performances on the mound.

The book is well-crafted, the writing measured and often reverential, a wonderful example of form and function working as one.Greenberg captures the rough energy of the world of McGraw's Giants and their fans, and also paints an interesting picture of the unlikely friendship between the earthy McGraw and Mathewson, his college-educated ace.The story of the Kapinski brothers involves not only McGraw and Mathewson, but other, less savory characters such as Hal Chase and his associates on and off the field.

A dark historical baseball novel, and one of the best.

Baseball When the Only Juice was Alcoholic
If there were a Hall of Fame for baseball books, Mr. Greenberg's book would surely be inducted. Perhaps not on the first ballot, but definitely within the first few years of eligibility.

This book made me feel as though I'd stepped through a time-warp and into the stands of the Polo Grounds 100 years ago.The baseball scenes are told with an obvious fondness through the eyes of the narrator, whose life we learn about through his musings on his beloved Giants and the magnificent Christie Matthewson.

Spanning almost twenty years of baseball action, from Matty's rookie season no-hitter through his death in the mid 1920's, we are given a glimpse of how life used to be for an avid baseball fan.We are treated to encounters with John McGraw, Hal Chase, Smokey Joe Wood, Amos Rusie, and Christie Matthewson himself.Near the end of the book there is an impressive amount of time given to the 1919 Black Sox, and the tainted World Series against the Reds.

A time machine
This book not only takes you back in time to see the early baseball legends so clearly you think you actually watched them play, but it also creates a picture of the era they lived in: life-style, business experience, ethnic experience. It would make a great choice for a high school student doing a book report or history report on the early 20th century.

The Celebrant shows us the origins of hero worship at the birth of the pop culture era - both good and bad.Jackie's love of Matty is embodied in the beauty of the rings he gave the pitcher and at the same time it is obsession that leads (at least in part) to the destruction of someone Jackie has a "real-life" relationship with (as opposed to one based on fantasy).

Some reviewers here are not satisfied with the ending, but I kind of enjoyed the ambiguity of it.This man will never be able to remember the joy of watching Matty pitch without also thinking of the personal tragedy it will forever be linked with.The great and the terrible are forever woven together in a past we see clearly through Jackie's memories.

This observation won't make sense unless you've seen the film, but there's an epilogue at the end of Barry Lyndon (and I'm butchering it) - "all these souls, whether good or evil, great or small, are all long dead and forgotten save to memory."Something like that.That's how this book plays out.It's very much in the past.Very much a part of distant memory and yet Grenberg gives us access to those memories as if they are our own.When I see picture of Matty now I smile as if I watched him play myself.And there's saddness in the memory.I remember Matty's life cut short and I remember Eli.And they both are equally real to me.

Anyway, it's a wonderful time machine and you need to have that baseball fan in your life read it - especially if it's a young person who never heard of the "immortals." ... Read more