The Gashouse Gang: How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch Rickey, Pepper Martin, and Their Colorful, Come-from-Behind Ball Club Won the World Series-and America's Heart-During the Great Depression

by John Heidenry

Overview

With The Gashouse Gang, John Heidenry delivers the definitive account of one the greatest and most colorful baseball teams of all times, the 1934 St. Louis Cardinals, filled with larger-than-life baseball personalities like Branch Rickey, Leo Durocher, Pepper Martin, Casey Stengel, Satchel Paige, Frankie Frisch, and — especially — the eccentric good ol' boy and great pitcher Dizzy Dean and his brother Paul.

The year 1934 marked the lowest point of the Great Depression, when the U.S. went off the gold standard, banks collapsed by the score, and millions of Americans were out of work. Epic baseball feats offered welcome relief from the hardships of daily life. The Gashouse Gang, the brilliant culmination of a dream by its general manager, Branch Rickey, the first to envision a farm system that would acquire and "educate" young players in the art of baseball, was adored by the nation, who saw itself — scruffy, proud, and unbeatable — in the Gang.

Based on original research and told in entertaining narrative style, The Gashouse Gang brings a bygone era and a cast full of vivid personalities to life and unearths a treasure trove of baseball lore that will delight any fan of the great American pastime.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781586485689
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	04/29/2008
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	437,059
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Heidenry is a native of St. Louis and was the founding editor, in 1977, of St. Louis magazine and the St. Louis Literary Supplement. He is currently the Executive Editor of the Week. The author of several previous books, he lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Preface     ix
The Impossible Dream     1
Me'n' Paul     29
The Gang's All Here     73
The Gashouse Follies     109
Dizzy in the Dock     155
Casey's Revenge     181
It Ain't Braggin'     199
By the Breath of the Gods     239
Tiger Rag     267
Epilogue     285
Notes     293
Bibliography     301
Acknowledgments     305
Index     306