One of the greatest feats in sports history was the 60-12 season posted in 1884 by Old Hoss Radbourn. Although he is in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, and was celebrated in his day, modern baseball fans know little about him. This book changes all that. Achorn does a wonderful job of bringing Radbourn to life. Radbourn was feisty, rebellious, and crafty, a hard drinker and a hard worker. He had a great fastball and a good curve ball. He was an early pioneer of the screwball. Above all, he had pinpoint control and he was so unpredictable that batters were totally baffled. In 1884 he had a 1.38 ERA, pitched 73 complete games, and struck out 441 batters. After that, he pitched and won all of the games of the 1884 World Series. In his career he posted 309 wins. While the book does recount the excitement of the 1884 pennant race, it also provides a picture of the times. The love affair of Radbourn with Carrie Stanhope, and the tragedies that befell both of them, make this more than just a book about a forgotten baseball legend. There is one thing that the author does that I disagree with. In recent years it has been fashionable for baseball writers to recalculate and change the statistics of 19th Century baseball players. Thus, Hugh Duffy's record breaking average in 1894 is either .440 or .438, depending on the source. Some .400 hitters were demoted to hitting .389 or thereabouts. One 40 game winner has been demoted to a "mere" 39 wins. It often depends on the scoring: what is a hit; what is an error; what is an official game. In the case of Old Hoss Radbourn, Achorn decided that in one of Radbourn's 60 wins, where two pitchers were used in the game, the win should have gone to the other pitcher. Hence the title of this book is "Fifty Nine" instead of "Sixty". Since Radbourn's contemporaries scored the game to give him the win, since he has been credited with 60 wins for well over a hundred years, I think it is ridiculous to now come back and rescore the game to give him a lower total. Some baseball records will never be broken. Chief Wilson's 36 triples will stand as a single season record forever, because stadiums are not cavernous enough and long ball hitters are swinging for the fences and clearing them. Radbourn's record will never be duplicated because no team will ever dare to risk injury to their star pitcher by pitching him so often. The turbulent times of the era have been well portrayed in this interesting book. The author does a remarkable job of uncovering facts to bring the legend to life for the attention that the former hero deserves. Fascinating account of not only Charles Radbourn, but also baseball as it was played in the 1880s, and what life was like for both ballplayers and the general population at that period of history. I understand that there wouldn't be records of the courtship of Radbourn and Carrie Stanhope, but the story stalls a bit every time Achorn tries to speculate about their relationship. In general, though, a great read.
What do You think about Fifty-Nine In '84 (2010)?
about Providence pitcher who won 59 games in 1884, picture of life in late 1800s New England
—Rosie
The baseball history part was great. It got slow with the history of the day.
—Dorkababa
Best baseball book of the last fifteen years.
—jgarcia888
