The Selling of the Babe: The Deal That Changed Baseball and Created a Legend - Hardcover

Stout, Glenn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1250064317 ISBN 13: 9781250064318

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books, 2016

Synopsis

The complete story surrounding the most famous and significant player transaction in professional sports.

The sale of Babe Ruth by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees in 1919 is one of the pivotal moments in baseball history, changing the fortunes of two of baseball's most storied franchises, changing the game forever and helping to create the legend of the greatest player the game has ever known.

More than a simple transaction, the sale resulted in a deal that created the Yankee dynasty, turned Boston into an also-ran, sold the American people on the modern home run era after the Black Sox scandal and led the public to fall in love with Ruth. Award-winning baseball historian Glenn Stout reveals brand-new information about Babe and the unique political situation surrounding his sale, including:

- The political battle among baseball's elite that inspired the sale.

- How Prohibition and the lifting of Blue Laws in New York affected Yankees owner and beer baron Jacob Ruppert.

- Reveals how a shortage of quality wool due to World War One led to changes in the way baseballs were made that resulted in the inadvertent creation of the "lively" ball.  

- Uncovers Ruth's disruptive influence on the Red Sox in 1918 and 1919, and uses  sabermetrics to showing his negative impact on the team as he transitioned from pitcher to outfielder.

The Selling of Babe is the first book to focus on the ramifications of the sale and captures the central moment of Ruth's evolution from player to icon, and will appeal to fans of The Kid and Pinstripe Empire. Babe's sale to New York and the subsequent selling of Ruth to America led baseball from the Deadball Era and sparked a new era in the game, one revolved around the long ball and one man, The Babe.

About this title

About the Author

GLENN STOUT is the series editor for The Best American Sports Writing and author of many  books, including Red Sox Century, Yankees Century, Young Woman and the Sea and Fenway 1912, the only title to win both SABR's Seymour Medal as the best baseball book of history or biography and the Ritter Award, as the best book of the Deadball Era, in the same year. Stout has also served as Editor for  award-winning Longform narrative journalism. His biography of Gertrude Ederle, Young Woman and the Sea, is under development at Paramount Pictures.            

Review

WINNER of SABR's 2017 LARRY RITTER AWARD for best book of the Deadball Era.
 
Finalist for the 2016 CASEY AWARD from Spitball Magazine as Best Baseball Book of the Year and SABR's 2017 HAROLD AND DOROTHY SEYMOUR MEDAL as the best baseball book of history or biography.

A SportsBiblio.com's and Buffalo News10 NOTABLE SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR - the only baseball title selected by SportsBiblio.

"Glenn Stout rips the cover off this one, a no-doubt-about-it home run that is a triumph of research, writing and above all, clear thinking. A fascinating account that will leave any reader with a startling new perspective not just on Babe Ruth but on the game of baseball as we know it today."  -Steve Kettman,author of Baseball Maverick and One Day at Fenway

"So thoroughly does Stout deconstruct the master narrative of Harry Frazee and "No, No, Nanette" that there's virtually nothing left of it.  "Ruth was just a piece of...property," he says, "a pawn in a series of decisions made partially for baseball reasons, partially for political reasons, and partially for financial reasons.  One thing can be said for certain--no single reason, no single fact, and no single condition led to the sale of Ruth."  To his credit, Stout untangles and explains it all clearly and vividly.  His book is an outstanding exercise in historical thinking, depicting issues and events through the eyes of the people who lived them and eschewing judgments based on 20-20 hindsight.  Rather than just print the legend, he digs for evidence.  The story that emerges is far richer and more intriguing than the one we had before.  The Selling of the Babe is not merely sports history at its best, it is history at its best." - Luther Spoehr, Senior Lecturer in the Education Department at Brown University

"Stout uses his considerable skills as a writer and historian to show how this event helped bring about baseball's modern era. His portrayal of that pivotal moment is fully engaging, taking the reader back tothat exciting time. - Library Journal

"Separating myth from truth in the most infamous trade in baseball history ... Stout makes clear that only in retrospect was the tradequite so ridiculous as it now appears. The author tells a good, well-focused story and makes a compelling argument, but he occasionally lapses into cliché,and, as with any revisionist history, this one occasionally overstates itscase--though it might be a case worth overstating. Baseball history is full ofhoary legends. Stout deftly challenges one of the game's biggest.  - Kirkus Reviews

"Author Stout ... brings reporting chops and fresh insights into one of the more momentous transactions in sports history: the 1919 sale of Ruth from the Red Sox to the Yankees ... even Red Sox fans should enjoy thisentertaining, mythbusting account. - Booklist

Finalist for the 2016 CASEY AWARD from Spitball Magazine as Best Baseball Book of the Year.

A SportsBiblio.com's 10 NOTABLE SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR - the only baseball title honored.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1250064317
• ISBN 13: 9781250064318
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304