From the polo fields of the gentleman came the pastime of the everyman. Writer Frank Deford along with Atlantic Monthly Press publishers present a book about the early innings of baseball and the stories of two virtual caryatids of the institution: John Mcgraw and Christy Mathewson.

Frank Deford has got game. He has appeared in the perennial sports mag Sports Illustrated, lends his voice in NPR's Morning Edition segments, has swung commentary over at HBO, NBC, and CNN. He has been given so many awards, it would be easier to name the ones he hasn't recieved yet, but out of fairness, there is still time for him to win an Oscar and the Stanley Cup. Deford attended college at Princeton, where he unsuprisingly made sport of writing, and made writing for sport. Frank Deford also has written for both fiction and nonfiction genres, from topics varying from reincarnation inspired romances (The Other Adonis), to Pearl Harbor (Love and Infamy), to tennis (Ladies of the Court).

The Old Ball Game remembers the careers of John McGraw and Christy Mathewson, two Giants from very different ethnic backgrounds but with the same ganas (desire) for the game. The story spirals around the early lives and the latter profession of the "little Napolean" and the "big six," to the scenery of the corner of the twentieth century during the burgeoning of a new American sport. John McGraw, a fearsome gamester in his own day, was the Giants manager for thirty years and oversaw the pitching finesse of the whirling wunderkind Christy Mathewson, who was their pitcher for fourteen of those years. If there was a Mt. Rushmore of baseball, these two lugs would be on it, and The Old Ball Game would be the dramatic story about it.

Deford actually offers many aspects of baseball in the context of history, and baseball in context of other sports. Here is an example of one of those numerous entertaining (context) kernals that populate the book:

The 1890s, without foul strikes, equates very nicely to the recent years, with steroids.

POSITIVES: This book is a lot of fun and would make a worthy vacation read. It can even be enjoyed by those with the most primitive notions of the sport's dynamic subtleties. The writing satisfies every fan in the stadium, from the guy with no shirt who is painted blue, to the white-collar professional. The wonderful classic lingo proliferates, the narration is of a Vin Scully-esque cool and aesthetic, and the players highlighted do not fail to draw. Thesis? Check.

NEGATIVES: (This is not a negative as much as it is discretion.) You have to be able to at least tolerate baseball to read this book.

RATING:**** (out of seven stars)
Edited: PC