Heroes of Baseball: The Men Who Made It America's Favorite Game (review)

If cold, objective statistics have failed to establish beyond all doubt baseball's greatest players, then trying to identify its greatest heroes is an even more elusive goal. If anyone is entitled to an opinion, though, sports reporter and author Robert Lipsyte is, and here he factors in not only field performance but how well each candidate embodies—for better or worse—the ethos of his era. Early chapters nominate A. G. Spalding, who recognized baseball's potential as entertainment and business; Ty Cobb, whose orneriness never trumped the honesty of his play at a time when fans were shaken by the Black Sox scandal; Babe Ruth, the "Hero of Too Much in an Age of Too Much." Later chapters stray somewhat from this promising formula and sometimes indulge in a little more sentiment than sense (as in the quick dismissal of the scandals that surrounded both participants in the Sosa/McGwire home-run race). Of course, half the point of hero listing is to invite others to take you to task, and readers can jump right up to counter Lipsyte's arguments. The less contentious, however, will simply enjoy this ramble through baseball history and lap up the cool period photos (how about Spalding's all star-team posing on the Sphinx?). Index, glossary, print and online resources, and endpaper timelines are included.