August Garry Herrmann entered the murky waters of 19th century machine politics in Cincinnati, serving as a trusted lieutenant to one of the most powerful political bosses in the country, George B. Cox. Herrmann, a gifted man who introduced modern management principles to municipal government and oversaw the committee that built Cincinnati’s modern water works system, eventually did for baseball what he did for his home town, guiding it into a new century.
Along with George B. Cox and Cincinnati mayor Julius Fleischmann, Herrmann bought the Cincinnati Reds from John T. Brush in 1902. By 1903 he had chaired the peace conference between the leagues that ushered in the modern game. With the leagues united, Herrmann was selected to head up the National Commission, a three-person ruling body that governed major league baseball in the years before the commissionership.

William A. Cook is the author of numerous books, including 11 on baseball history, and has appeared in productions on ESPN2 and the MLB Network. A former health care administrator and township councilman in North Brunswick, New Jersey, he resides in Manalapan, New Jersey.

William A. Cook
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 303
Bibliographic Info: 35 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3073-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0734-4
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      1

I. Career Path to the Major Leagues      5

II. The Rise of the American League      27

III. The Machine Buys the Reds      38

IV. The National Commission      43

V. Fleischmann Re-elected and a World Series Begins      55

VI. The Machine Crashes      67

VII. The Ed Phelps Decision      77

VIII. Tinker to Evers to Chance and a Little Help from Herrmann      80

IX. Accolades for Herrmann and Merkle’s Boner      86

X. 1909—A Year of Tragedies and Triumphs      94

XI. Batting Kings and a Feud with Fogel      121

XII. The Fat Lady Sings for a Boss and a Palace      131

XIII. Cobb Explodes and Taft Tumbles      140

XIV. National League Melodrama      156

XV. The Teflon Boss      164

XVI. Herrmann’s Joe Tinker Experiment      171

XVII. War with the Feds Begins      182

XVIII. Feds Fold and the Sisler Decision      189

XIX. 1916—Grief and Turmoil for Herrmann      201

XX. The Great War and the Great American Game      215

XXI. 1919—Baseball’s Achilles’ Heel      230

XXII. Herrmann Quits and the Scandal Breaks      244

XXIII. The Black Sox Trial      260

XXIV. Herrmann’s Last Stand      267

Chapter Notes      281

Bibliography      287

Index      289

“a monumental and comprehensive biography…a detailed history…important”—Sports Collectors Digest; “Cook does a good job of tapping into the source of Herrmann’s success in both city politics and baseball governance…presents a balanced picture of his subject”—Nine; “a wonderful book…if you want to learn more about the progressive era and early baseball, get this book”—The Inside Game.