’30

The 1930 baseball season was unlike any other. Big league rosters included more Hall of Famers than at any time before or since. “The year of the batter” saw an extraordinary number of records set for runs, hits, home runs and RBIs. Nine of the 16 teams hit over .300 and so did 60 percent of the regular players. Seven pairs of teammates hit .350 or better and 20 batters had over 200 hits. Hack Wilson had a record 191 RBIs and five others topped 150; both leagues’ batting races came down to the last game of the season.
The pennant races provided great drama as well. In the National League, the Cardinals overcame a fourth place 12-game deficit in the final weeks of the season to win a four team, down-to-the-wire race. In the American League, underdog Washington battled injuries, misfortune and tragedy to challenge the heavily-favored Athletics.
For the first time, this remarkable season is covered in full, from spring training to the final out of the World Series.

Ray Zardetto, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, has written for a number of baseball publications and is a contributing writer to www.baseball-almanac.com. He lives in Flemington, New Jersey.

Ray Zardetto
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 239
Bibliographic Info: 56 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3666-8
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5220-0
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vi
Warming Up      1

1 Spring Training      5
2 Opening Day      23
3 April      37
4 May      54
5 June      82
6 July      108
7 August      131
8 September      162
9 October and the World Series      195

Afterword      211
Chapter Notes      223
Bibliography      229
Index      231