Cait Murphy hits homer with "Crazy '08"
by Steve Sheppard Independent Sports Editor
As any Red Sox fan will tell you, baseball has a rich history; heaped with such detail that basic facts are muddied, forgotten or obscured by the fog of time. The years sometimes distance us from the game's origins - when, for instance, did "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" first appear? Did the Chicago Cubs ever win the World Series?

Thankfully, Cait Murphy has carefully mined the shadows of the past to remind us all how thrilling, inventive and poignant baseball was a century ago. With her first book, "Crazy 08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History," she sheds new light on a year for the ages.

Consider what the 1908 season wrought: down to the wire pennant races - in both leagues, with both pennants decided on the season's last day; the flowering of the famed double play trio, Tinker, Evers and Chance; ground being broken for Shibe Park, the first modern ballpark; a baserunning mishap that brands rookie Fred Merkle a "bonehead" to this day, and marks the most controversial game ever played; Ty Cobb at the beginning of his legendary career; the Cubs in the midst of their years as a baseball dynasty.

"Crazy '08" is available at Mitchell's Book Corner and Nantucket Bookworks.

There's more, of course, and Murphy takes us along for the ride as the season unfolds.

There are no videotapes of the time; no radio broadcasts to hear or refer to. With limited resources at her disposal, Murphy recreates the atmosphere, and the feel, of the early twentieth century through meticulous research, and by weaving a compelling narrative that flows like a well-pitched game.

"It was eat your spinach and wade through the newspapers," the frequent island visitor said of gleaning her information from the papers of the day. "As far as day-to-day game accounts, that was pretty well covered," she noted. What fans today are accustomed to - the countless interviews; the constant reports of what ballplayers eat, drink and think - was nonexistent in baseball's early days, however. Murphy says she was "frustrated" by the lack of quotes and personal information. "The journalists were pretty much owned by the ball clubs."

It would be hard to imagine one particular episode being ignored by today's sportswriters. "In June, one of the starting pitchers for the Chicago White Sox leaves the team for the entire month. I was never able to find out why; none of the newspapers of the time will tell you."

But Murphy also uncovered nuggets like this one, found mentioned almost as an aside in a newspaper account: "In August, the fans in Washington, D.C. gave the manager a wolf for a present," she said. These types of discoveries are "what made it fun."

Murphy reconstructs the past so well that we can easily transport ourselves back to the America of 1908, when the country was grappling with growing pains of its own. "As I eventually argue in the book," she said, "it was the year baseball was forced to grow up."

To tackle a subject of this breadth, a writer not only has to tell a compelling tale, she has to know her subject well - and make no mistake about it, Cait Murphy knows baseball.

Which is not surprising for a person of her pedigree. "I inherited it from my dad," she says. "His first job was at Wrigley Field and his upstairs neighbor was Hall of Fame catcher Gabby Hartnett."

Her parents took her to her first game in 1969 as a birthday present. It was the Mets versus the Reds at Shea Stadium. "It was Cap Day. We were up in the nosebleeds, but I was just thrilled." Murphy said of the eight children in the family (a family that includes her brother, Finn), only she and her two sisters are the serious fans.

She remains a Mets fan, and hopes for a Mets- Red Sox World Series rematch this year. "Can you imagine Pedro coming back and pitching in Fenway?"

With its layers of history, baseball's hold continues. It's one reason why we get excited about a potential World Series matchup, and why we can still imagine the passion generated by a hundredyear old pennant race. As Murphy says of the 1908 season: "Even though I knew the outcome, I did get pretty excited. There were a lot of mini-climaxes leading to the end; the narrative, the arc of the season itself, was so interesting."

As readers of "Crazy '08" will discover, it was a special season indeed. Murphy believes one reason is "the intensity of the national league pennant race. There was real personal animosity between the players." She spoke of Johnny Damon's recent defection to the Yankees. "I find it hard to imagine that Johnny Evers would ever play for the Giants."

As for the evolution of the game?

"The way I put it is this," Murphy notes. "If the Red Sox of today were to play the Red Sox of 1908, they'd kill them, absolutely kill them. The knowledge of the game has grown so much and the players are much bigger.

"With that said, the players of 1908 were very, very good, and the baseball was very sophisticated. Honus Wagner in 1908 was one of the best baseball players in the country. If he played today, he'd still be one of the best players in the country.

"I think it's clear baseball has maintained a significant hold on American life. ... That it's been able to hold its own really says something about its

appeal." I