Fifty-nine in '84: Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, and the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had

by Edward Achorn

Overview

“All fans of baseball, all fans of a good story, will love this book."
— Professor Gordon Wood, Pulitzer and Bancroft Prize winner

“This is a beautifully written, meticulously researched story about a bygone baseball era that even die-hard fans will find foreign, and about a pitcher who might have been the greatest of all time.” — Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer prize-winning historian

Following in the tradition of the sleeper bestseller Crazy ‘08, Fifty-Nine in '84 is the story of Charles Radbourn, a brilliant major league baseball pitcher who, in the 1884 season, won an astonishing 59 games, a record that has never been broken. Set against the backdrop of 19th century baseball, Fifty-Nine in '84 gives readers a glimpse of the dangerous and violent game that preceded the sport we enjoy today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061986192
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/30/2010
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Edward Achorn, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for distinguished commentary, is the deputy editorial pages editor of the Providence Journal.

Table of Contents

Preface xiii

Prologue: Old Hoss Is Ready 1

1 The Importance of Grit 7

2 I Am a Pitcher 16

3 Raging, Tearing, Booming 29

4 Lucky Man 46

5 Treasure from the Gold Country 60

6 Brimstone and Treacle 73

7 Pneumonia Weather 88

8 She's Yours, Rad 102

9 Red Fire 118

10 A Working Girl 136

11 An Ugly Disposition 149

12 Rendezvous of the Wayward 168

13 Crackup 179

14 Drunk Enough to Be Stupid 193

15 The Severe Wrenching 208

16 Inward Laughs 230

17 A Promise Kept 251

18 The Best on Earth 262

Epilogue: Called Out by the Inexorable Umpire 281

Acknowledgments 303

Appendix 305

Sources and Notes 319

Index 357

What People are Saying About This

Cait Murphy

Beautifully written and impeccably researched, Pure Grit is the best book out there on 19th-century baseball. Old Hoss Radbourn would be pleased that he is finally getting his due—and angry that it took so long.

Joseph J. Ellis

“This is a beautifully written, meticulously researched story about a bygone baseball era that even die-hard fans will find foreign, and about a pitcher who might have been the greatest of all time.”

Editorial Reviews

…an astonishing book about 19th-century baseball…Fifty-nine in '84 is a romantic book, equal parts heroic quest, tragic tale and doomed love story.
—The Washington Post

Sean Callahan

In his first book, Achorn, an editor at the New Providence Journal, takes an in-depth look into the game of baseball when it was still in its infancy, especially the hard-nosed players rarely seen in today's incarnation of the national pastime, including one of the greatest pitchers that most of today's fans know nothing about. In the 1884 season, pitching for Providence, R.I., Radbourn—the son of English immigrants—endured one of the most grueling summers imaginable in willing his team to the pennant. The stress on his right arm, which caused such deterioration that he couldn't comb his own hair, also gave him a baseball record of 59 wins that will never be broken, in a year of “unparalleled brilliance.” Achorn wonderfully captures this era of the sport—when pitchers threw balls at batters' heads, and catchers, playing barehanded, endured such abuse that some would need fingers amputated. It's no wonder that, in some circles, as Achorn writes, baseball was thought to be “one degree above grand larceny, arson, and mayhem, and those who engaged in it were beneath the notice of decent society.” From the early stars of the game to archaic rules that seem silly by today's standards, there's plenty to devour (and learn) for even the biggest of baseball savants. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

A team winning streak of 20 games is always notable, but what if one pitcher accounted for 18 of the wins? What if he pitched 73 complete games in one season, on his way to 59 wins? We would hail this pitcher as the greatest ever, and Achorn (deputy editorial pages editor, Providence Journal) makes a convincing case that Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn should be so honored for his 1884 season with the National League's Providence Grays. This is not just a recitation of bare-handed baseball and old-time brawling, but a story that, with its larger-than-life protagonist, numerous exploits, and a love interest, reads like a novel. Hugely appealing for baseball die-hards.

Library Journal

A loving reanimation of the 1884 baseball season, during which Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn won 59 games and hurled his team into the first World Series. As Providence Journal deputy editorial page editor Achorn dutifully notes, 1880s baseball, flourishing before motion pictures and audio recordings, is a game both familiar and surpassingly alien. Preserved in sometimes skimpy, and always biased, newspaper accounts, the achievement of Radbourn, the Providence Grays' ace pitcher, is indeed astonishing. Well before the introduction of relief pitchers, the starters were expected to play the entire game and to pitch often, sometimes on consecutive days-and sometimes even both ends of a doubleheader, as Radbourn did on Memorial Day, winning both. He won the next day, too. Achorn digs into Radbourn's Illinois background and follows his ancestors back to England. Little Charles learned to love hunting, purebred dogs, baseball and later on, Carrie Stanhope, the legendary woman who ran a Providence boarding house and eventually married Radbourn. The author charts Radbourn's swift rise in an era when pitchers flamed out quickly because of arm injuries; Radbourn and his colleagues lived with continuous pain. Achorn pauses occasionally to portray the pitcher's rivals and teammates and to identify the differences in yesteryear's game. The fielders used only their bare hands-even catchers had but minimal protection; foul balls were not strikes; a single umpire, often corrupt, called each game. The author also supplies needed cultural history-e.g., the train ride from the East Coast to Chicago took three days; Buffalo Bill arrived in Providence that same season. An unabashed fan, Achorn occasionallydrifts into excess and cliche (catchers needed "dauntless courage"; the Chicago team "ate weaker clubs for breakfast"), but he capably delivers an entertaining story. A thoroughly researched panegyric to a man and an era. Agent: David Miller/The Garamond Agency

Kirkus Reviews

Beautifully written and impeccably researched, Pure Grit is the best book out there on 19th-century baseball. Old Hoss Radbourn would be pleased that he is finally getting his due—and angry that it took so long.

Cait Murphy

This is a beautifully written, meticulously researched story about a bygone baseball era that even die-hard fans will find foreign, and about a pitcher who might have been the greatest of all time.

Joseph J. Ellis