Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 19, 1995 TAG: 9502210099
SECTION: BOOK PAGE: G-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY KURT RHEINHEIMER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In baseball darkness such as we now endure, there are two consolations: the warm and wonderful weight of the numbers that have accumulated inexorably over the time since the Civil War; and the minor solace that as those numbers have accreted, there have always been intrusions of greed to try to interrupt them.
The clashing of those forces - the measured building of one of the country's most glorious statistical pasts versus the barons' ne'er-ending attempts to restrict the unbridled ambition of talented young men - is all but inevitable. The men who sell us tickets want money first and a glorious record second; the young men who play want fame and its immediate rewards first and a glorious record second. It is only in those respective pursuits that they are now so egregiously interrupted.
This book - fun and happy, glib and superficial in its status as an "official, team-sponsored celebration" - nonetheless presents a full microcosm of that terrible dichotomy that is major league baseball. The book's first section treats the early history of Baltimore baseball, including these greed-based ignominies:
nWhen the first major league team was formed, in 1871, the strong Baltimore team was not included. Reason: "The Maryland nine had toured the Midwest the summer before and made a stop in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where they were offered salaries to represent that city." Thus Baltimore did not join Boston, Chicago and others, and instead was left teamless in what the book notes as a precedent for the stealing of Baltimore's football Colts by another Indiana town 113 years later.
Beginning in 1894, the National League Orioles, with John McGraw, Willie Keeler and other 19th century stars, won three consecutive pennants and then the Temple Cup, only to see their stars then sold off to other teams to save money.
After a low point of no team in 1900, the Orioles resurfaced in 1901 in the American League, and John McGraw departed the team over a $7,000 loan. The decimated team was bought up after the 1902 season and moved away to New York, where they eventually became - oh, injustice of all injustices! - the New York Yankees.
In 1914, the by-then-minor league Orioles sold away a young pitching prospect for $2,900. That pitcher: Baltimore native George Herman Ruth, who would go on to achieve some fame as a hitter as well.
At the other extreme there are the glorious numbers:
One year a long-time Dodger farm hand came over to the Orioles and hit .316, with 46 home runs and 141 RBIs. Ah, but the year was 1961, and with Roger Maris catching Ruth, Jim Gentile led the league in nothing at all with those wonderful numbers.
Twenty years later, a young Oriole tied for the league lead in home runs with 22, and led in RBIs with 78. The reason for the modest totals: 1981 was another ugly strike year. Project those figures over a full season and Eddie Murray hits a career-high 36 homes and drives in a career-high 128.
And then there is that most compelling number of all: that Calvin Edwin Ripkin Jr., a Baltimore County native, has since one day in May of 1982, trotted out onto the field each and every time his team has played.
That number - 2,009 games in a row, with Gehrig's 2,130 within a summer's distance - stands as perhaps the most compelling Baltimore number of all, even as Major League Baseball positions itself over in the corner and, in the manner of a soul so deranged it knows not what it does, pumps shotgun shell after shotgun shell at its feet until there are only bloody stumps left.
Perhaps it's a measure of one person's love for a team and obsession with a game that my favorite verbal gymnastic for several years has been to pick a letter of the alphabet and they try to think of the all-time major league team for that letter. The "R" team would be as good as any, and have a hugely Baltimore flavor: Baltimore native Ripkin at short, Brooks Robinson at third, Babe Ruth in right, Frank Robinson in left, Wilbert Robinson at catcher, Robin Roberts on the mound. Throw in a few "outsiders" like Pete Rose at first, Jackie Robinson at second, Sam Rice to round out the outfield and Eppa Rixey to pitch from the left side and you've got a team to compete with any letter.
If you love baseball, this book is nice to have. If you love the Orioles, you have no choice. Either way, and despite its glibness, this book, read under the flickering light of a sport attempting suicide, provides sweet heartbreak on every page.
Kurt Rheinheimer is the editor of the Roanoker and Blue Ridge Country magazines.
by CNB