The Soaring Twenties: Babe Ruth and the Home Run Decade

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-This book describes an era of spectacular sports stars and business tycoons who "owned" the newly evolving major leagues. Many students will be interested in discovering that baseball also involved graft, game-fixing, prejudice, and "czars." They may be intrigued with some of the issues Gilbert explores; for example, why the Black Sox scandal was exposed when so many other equally serious problems were hidden. Similarly, why were some players allowed to continue "trick" pitches after they had been banned? How did Babe Ruth and other fabled hitters manage their seemingly incredible feats? In addition to pondering those interesting questions, the author delineates the problems of race and the Negro Leagues. Stories of the baseball dynasties and farm leagues at the end of the decade complete the presentation. Although the dry writing style is weighted down by cumbersome statistics that detract from the gripping stories, such detail is important if the book is to be used for reports. The text is well researched but confusing at times due to emphasis shifts. Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig's The Image of Their Greatness (Crown, 1992) includes similar information in less detail. Unless readers are real baseball enthusiasts, Gilbert's book will be of limited appeal. It would be a good addition to a collection needing background information on baseball.-Susan Cooley, Tower Hill School, Wilmington, DE