Fred Merkle book question

[Maxjacks]

Has anyone read the book "Public Bonehead, Private Hero: The Real Legacy of Baseball's Fred Merkle"? How is it? Does it have a lot of info about his life after his career

I want to write something about Merkle and this seems like it may be a great resource but there isnt much info on the book I could find.


Thanks

[drumback]

I have read this book and still have it. Honestly, I was disappointed. It was not really well-written, and there was very little about his life after baseball. However, to be fair, his life after baseball was not particularly interesting, so there wasn't much to write about.

If you want to read it, I could mail it to you, if you will ship it back to me when you are finished.

Mark

[BeanTown]

Copied this description from an REA old auction. Sums up really well what happened in an unforgettable moment in baseball history. One of my favorite postcards.

Exceedingly rare foldout postcard featuring a panoramic view of the legendary "Merkle" makeup game that decided the pennant of 1908. As the postcard notes in the printed caption provided, this game was well known as "The Greatest Ball Game Ever Played." The stature of this game was not an exaggeration! In the wake of the famous "Merkle's Boner" game that resulted in a tie, this was the game that National League president Harry Pulliam dictated would be played to decide the pennant. The fate of the world would be decided by this game for Giants and Cubs fans alike. The controversy over the Merkle's Boner game heightened emotions to a unprecedented fever pitch. This was more than a baseball game. This was war!

The large-format postcard provides a spectacular panoramic view of the Polo Grounds, taken from the perspective of an outlying area beyond the center field bleachers, during the game in progress between the New York Giants and Chicago Cubs on October 8, 1908. It was on that day that the Giants and Cubs met in the makeup game occasioned by the famous "Merkle's Boner" game that took place on September 23rd. In that historic earlier game, Giants backup first baseman Fred Merkle, who was on first base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game, failed to touch second base on what appeared to be Al Bridwell's game-winning hit.

Merkle's oversight resulted in his being called out on a force play, thereby negating the winning run and leaving the umpires no choice but to declare the game a tie (both darkness and a large contingent of fans on the playing field made a resumption of the game impossible). As fate would have it, the two clubs then ended the regular season tied for first, with the makeup game, pictured here, tantamount to a one-game playoff to decide the pennant. The importance of the game at the time is duly noted by the printed caption on the front that reads "The Greatest Ball Game Ever Played - Polo Grounds, New York Oct. 8 '08 Witnessed - by 50,000 People, Between Chicago & New York." The copyright date and photographer's name appear in the lower right corner, "Copyright 1908 D. Silberer Bros. N.Y." Unfortunately, nearly all of those 50,000 spectators were sent home disappointed, as the Cubs defeated the Giants by a score of 4-2, thereby winning (or "stealing," if you were a Giants fan) the pennant.


The "Merkle's Boner" game was the most controversial game in baseball history and the animosity it fostered in the hearts and minds of New Yorkers against the Cubs was overwhelming. Most of the Cubs players, especially Johnny Evers, received numerous death threats following the game. When the Cubs returned for the makeup game emotions were running so high among Giants fans that the team required police protection both to and from the stadium, literally traveling in a police paddy wagon for their own safety. The fact that they defeated the Giants in the makeup of a game everyone felt the Giants had originally won in the first place, only hardened fans' hatred of the Cubs.

This fact may actually explain the great rarity of this postcard. The card was produced by a New York manufacturer. It was therefore presumably offered for sale in New York. To purchase this card and then send it on to friends would have been the equivalent of intentionally sending a hurtful reminder of the most tragic defeat in Giants team history. It would be like trying to sell picture postcards of Bobby Thomson's "shot heard round the world" in Brooklyn during the fall of 1951. This is speculation, of course, but the extreme rarity of this postcard is certainly curious.

[Maxjacks]

I have read this book and still have it. Honestly, I was disappointed. It was not really well-written, and there was very little about his life after baseball. However, to be fair, his life after baseball was not particularly interesting, so there wasn't much to write about.

If you want to read it, I could mail it to you, if you will ship it back to me when you are finished.

Mark

Thanks for the info on the book and the offer I'll pass, there is a cheap used copy on amazon so I'll save you the trouble

Beantown, I've never seen that postcard before I appreciate you sharing it

[drumback]

I have read many accounts of the Merkle game, and the best, in my opinion, is by Peter Golenbock in his book, "Wrigleyville." It is fascinating and a joy to read.