The 1911 New York Giants stole an astonishing 347 bases, a record that
still stands more than a century later. That alone makes them special in
baseball history, but as Maury Klein relates in Stealing Games they
also embodied a rapidly changing America on the cusp of a faster, more
frenetic pace of life dominated by machines, technology, and urban
culture.
Baseball, too, was evolving from the dead-ball to the live-ball era--the
cork-centered ball was introduced in 1910 and structurally changed not
only the outcome of individual games but the way the game itself was
played, requiring upgraded equipment, new rules, and new ways of
adjudicating. Changing performance also changed the relationship between
management and players. The Giants had two stars--the brilliant manager
John McGraw and aging pitcher Christy Mathewson--and memorable
characters such as Rube Marquard and Fred Snodgrass; yet their speed and
tenacity led to three pennants in a row starting in 1911. Stealing
Games gives a great team its due and underscores once more the rich
connection between sports and culture.