Crazy 08

Anytime you feel you need to connect with the game, the origins, the characters, and where the growth came from, ask me.'

I read a book years back called Crazy 08, and others I have mentioned it to have also enjoyed the stories about the game, the pennat race in the national League and what life was like at the turn of the century.



Was it the wackiest year, well I don't know enough about other years to say that, but it was pretty special, a one game play off, a tie game ?, fan interference, suspending managers, selling hot dogs, scorecards, and there was plenty other aspects introduced in 08.  That makes it different than 09 or 07, but in context, thenext great revolution was not a rule change, or park design or 3 strikes and 5 balls to 3 & 4, it was the dead ball era and the Babe, new balls were introduced and well Ruth changed how hitters approached things. 

In 08, the Cubs, Giants, and Pirates fought the entire season, with ebb and flow to get to a 1 game play down.

The year and the era are explored expertly and without knowing, the author uniquely avoids the blow by blow game experience in too much detail , but enough so that we understand the turning points, the individual struggles people faced and how players coped with that change. 

The industrial era was upon the US, steel factories, coal mills, automobile production, large labour unions, strikes, political unrest, serial killers, and crooked cops.  The time was volatile and the game seemed to embody what the country was feeling, almost like they were connected with the same umbilical chord. Child and parent, parent and child.

Enjoy !

Feller

He had a fastball many could not touch, and he had control no one would believe, especially at 16, and he got better.

Washington Post writer Shirley Povich wrote, "throwing the ball with the speed of a runaway trai, if Feller , who grew up on heartlands of America, if he had not the control of it, there would have dead bodies everywhere".

He played his entire career with the Cleveland Indians, making several All Star games, striking out the likes of Stan Musial 3 times in one All Star Game, and Musial never argued with the umpires, claiming, "you can't argue with whjat you can't see".  Catchers gloves were little protection at the best of times, but Feller wore out many with his heater.

He enlisted in the war, and served a full term in the Air Force. 

Feller would barnstorm in the off season when he was not returning home to work the family farm.

His father allowed him to throw the ball against the barn door, and well like any Canadian kid shooting a puck against a garage door, he wore out the bard door each fall and winter.

Tom Seaver was said to have watched Feller on baseball reels, and patterned his delivery, b ut not his wind up, which was an exaggerated long and slow drive througth the ball to the plate.

There were no "speed guns" to determine how fast he threw, but asking the old timers about Feller, they just said they closed their eyes and swung at what they heard. Power hitters were no match for Feller, he had most of his troubles with spray hitters, who choked up on the bat.

A Hall of Famer, and a perfect entry for the Zach Wheat Experience.