More than Merkle: A History of the Best and Most Exciting Baseball Season in Human History.

• Author: BARRETT, WAYNE M.
• Position: Review

* Back in college, I told anyone who would listen that some day I'd write a great book--all about the 1908 baseball season. I guess I sat on the idea too long because David Anderson beat me to it with his fascinating More than Merkle: A History of the Best and Most Exciting Baseball Season in Human History (University of Nebraska Press, 285 pages, $29.95).

The title about sums it up, from the famous Merkle Boner (in which the New York Giants first baseman forgot to touch second base after a game-winning single, a blunder that cost his team the pennant) to the three-way race for the National League flag to the suicide of the N.L. president to the writing of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" to the one-game playoff matchup of Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown vs. Christy Mathewson to the Cubs' last world championship. This is an absolute must read for fans of...