Download The Old Ball Game: How John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, and the New York Giants Created Modern Baseball AudioBook Free
In The Old Ball Game, Frank Deford, NPR sports commentator and Sports activities Illustrated journalist retells the storyplot of a unique friendship between two towering figures in baseball history.At the change of the twentieth hundred years, Christy Mathewson was one of baseball's first superstars. Over six foot tall, clean slash, and college educated, he didn't pitch on the Sabbath and hardly ever spoke an unwell phrase about anyone. He also acquired one of the most devastating arms in all of baseball. New York Giants manager John McGraw, by contrast, was ferocious. The pugnacious tough guy was already a celebrity infielder who, with the Baltimore Orioles, helped develop a new, scrappy design of baseball, with takes on like the hit-and-run, the Baltimore chop, and the press play. When McGraw joined up with the Giants in 1902, the Giants were coming off their worst season ever before. Yet within 3 years, Mathewson clinched New York City's first World Series for McGraw's team by throwing three direct shutouts in mere six days, an incredible feat that is invariably called the best World Series performance ever before. For their wonderful odd-couple connection, baseball acquired its first superstar, the Giants ascended into tale, and football as a countrywide pastime bloomed.
