Full Description
In 1908 baseball was the only game that mattered in the South. With no major league team in the region, rivalries between Southern Association cities such as Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, and New Orleans were heated. This season, however, no city was as baseball-crazed as Nashville, whose Vols had been league doormat in 1907.
After an unpromising start, the Nashville club clawed its way into contention during the month of July, rising into the upper division, then into a battle for first. Local interest intensified, as the competitive fire of Nashville fans was stoked by sharp-tongued columnist Grantland Rice and the city's three daily newspapers. By the time the Vols met the New Orleans Pelicans for a season-ending series, and the championship, the city was gripped by a pennant fever that shut down the commercial district. Nearly 13,000 people thronged the Nashville ballpark, Sulphur Dell, for the third and deciding contest. What they saw was described by Rice as "the greatest game ever played in Dixie."
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
1. Nashville and the National Pastime in the Deadball Era
2. Going from Bad to ?
3. Play Ball
4. More of the Same
5. Month of Crises
6. In Search of Stability
7. Dog Days of Summer
8. Pennant Fever
9. The Greatest Game Ever Played in Dixie
10. Historic Legacy of the 1908 Nashville Vols
11. Life After Baseball
Appendix A: Players' Careers
Appendix B: Linescores for the Vols' 1908 Season
Appendix C: Should Jake Daubert Be in the Hall of Fame?
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
