Fred Clarke

Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945, Fred Clarke began his career in 1894 with a record day at the plate, going 5 for 5. He would go on to play for 21 years spending most of that time as the player-manager of the Pirates, a team he led to four pennants and one World Series Championship (1909).

Ronald T. Waldo, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, lives in Pittsburgh. His articles have appeared in Pittsburgh Pride Magazine and Sports Collectors Digest, and he is the author of several books on baseball history.

Ronald T. Waldo
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 252
Bibliographic Info: 15 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2011
pISBN: 978-0-7864-5933-9
eISBN: 978-0-7864-6016-8
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Preface 1

 1. A Fall Day in Winterset 5

 2. Two Passions Are Born 9

 3. Fearless Youngster 18

 4. The Original Boy Wonder Manager 29

 5. Goodbye Louisville, Hello Pittsburgh 41

 6. Pennant Flag Hangs from Corsair Craft 53

 7. Pittsburgh Repeats in Spite of Johnson’s Treachery 66

 8. Historic Battle with an Old Friend 79

 9. Clarke Trades Proven Performers to Improve Team 94

10. Twenty-Nine Game Loser Becomes Staff Ace 108

11. Pirates Come Close During Great Race 122

12. Championship Glory 137

13. Clarke Betrayed by Pittsburgh Fans 152

14. Marty O’Toole’s Three-Ring Circus 165

15. A Great Career Winds Down 181

16. Can’t Get Baseball Out of His Blood 196

17. A Full Life After Baseball 207

Appendix: Fred Clarke’s Career Statistics 217

Chapter Notes 219

Bibliography 235

Index 237

“Waldo has helped to fill gap with this first full-length biography. Waldo does an excellent job of bringing Clarke the player to life”—The Inside Game.