The Wizard of Waxahachie: Paul Richards and the End of Baseball as We Knew It (review)

The recent election of Whitey Herzog to Baseball's Hall of Fame revives thoughts of other major league managers famous for their innovations and baseball knowledge. Unlike Herzog, some failed to win a single pennant. Paul Richards, the Wizard of Waxahachie, belongs to this group. But Warren Corbett's well-researched and well-written biography does not focus on this failure; instead, it uses the life of the North Texan to analyze the changes in professional baseball—and to a lesser extent life in the United States—during the middle decades of the twentieth century. The result is a book that will appeal to baseball strategists and fans of the game's and the state's history.

Richards's early years, based on 1980s interviews of Paul Richards and later interviews with Richards's daughter Paula, describe a typical life in Texas just after the turn of the century. Corbett notes Richards's obsession with baseball while providing a clear portrait of daily living in Waxahachie, Texas. Then, using a mixture of primary and secondary sources, Corbett follows the Wizard through his undistinguished playing career to his emergence as one of the most-respected minds in baseball, and finally, to Richards's slow disengagement from the game. Corbett examines the many changes in the national pastime over those decades, some initiated by Richards himself, including an oversized catcher's mitt, pitch counts and "B.A. with base on balls" (111), Richards's term for on base percentage. Interestingly, the impact, at least of the latter two, has been much greater forty years after Richards introduced them.

As the century progressed, the relation between baseball and American culture weakened. The Wizard of Waxahachie disconnects the two simply by focusing exclusively on Richards's managerial career after World War II. Here, fans of this Golden Age of Baseball will find an excellent look into Richards's influence on the building of two then perennial losers, the Chicago White Sox and the Baltimore Orioles, into the pennant winners of 1959 and 1966, respectively. Of course, by the time those pennant years came, Richards was elsewhere.

Included elsewhere are the Houston Colt .45s and the Texas Rangers (with stops in Atlanta and again in Chicago interrupting his time in Texas). Unfortunately for fans in the Lone Star State, Richards did not do for the clubs in his home state what he did for the Chicago and Baltimore nines. Corbett's account of Richards's tenure in both Texas cities provides insight into the reasons for the failures and, possibly, for why neither franchise has won baseball's ultimate prize, a World Series championship.

Throughout, Corbett provides a balanced profile of Richards, noting his personal failures while avoiding unfair character assassinations. Comments from associates of Richards, players and administrators, encompass praise and disparagement. Corbett claims, "Richards's style fell between McGraw's and Herzog's . . . Richards was respected by many but loved by none" (254). Those with positive memories of Richards include Brooks Robinson and Tony LaRussa, who provided the book's foreword and introduction, respectively; neither essay should be overlooked.

For fans attracted solely to the contemporary game, these opening comments will be the best part of the book; those who delve further will be rewarded with an intriguing look at the game before free agency "end[ed] baseball as we know it" (316). Baseball researchers, especially those seeking the origins of many of the game's innovations, will find Corbett's commentary and bibliography valuable. His work will help keep Richards's impact on baseball from being forgotten in a society infatuated with winners.