Red Faber

This is the first full biography of Hall of Famer Urban “Red” Faber, who won a record three World Series games in 1917—until 2005, the last time the Chicago White Sox won it all. The winningest spitball pitcher in the American League and one of the oldest players ever to wear a major league uniform, Faber regularly challenged the game’s top hitters. He experienced the heights of championship baseball until the Black Sox scandal decimated Charles Comiskey’s team and relegated Faber to stardom on second-division White Sox clubs.

Brian E. Cooper is the executive editor and editorial board chairman of the Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, Iowa). His 2007 biography of Red Faber was a finalist for the Larry Ritter Award. A member of the Society for American Baseball Research, he lives in Dubuque.

Brian E. Cooper
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 279
Bibliographic Info: 41 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2007
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2721-5
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vi
Introduction      1

1. Modest Hero      5
2. The Boy from Cascade      9
3. Hometown Professional      20
4. One Season, Three Teams      26
5. The Spitball      30
6. Des Moines      35
7. World Tourist      39
8. White Sox Rookie      50
9. Sophomore Sensation      57
10. “Feared by Every Batsman”      66
11. American League Champs      72
12. World Series Hero      78
13. The Lost Season      87
14. Black Sox      93
15. A Team Divided      99
16. A Pitching Sta› Named “Red”      108
17. Best in the American League (Again)       119
18. “A Puzzle”      128
19. Cellar Dwellers      134
20. “Old” No More      139
21. “Simply Too Much Red”      144
22. “Not the Same Faber”      154
23. “Youth Must Be Served?”      163
24. “A Good and Deserving Fellow”      174
25. In the Doghouse      189
26. “Faber Luck”      197
27. Two Wins      203
28. “A Stout-Hearted Old Warrior”      211
29. Parting       217
30. Odd Jobs      220
31. Cooperstown at Last      228
32. Twilight and Sunset      234

Appendix A: Statistics      239
Appendix B: Milestones      245
Chapter Notes      247
Bibliography      259
Index       263

Finalist, Larry Ritter Book Award—SABR
“meticulously researched”—Telegraph Herald; “offers the first full biography of Faber”—Sports Collectors Digest; “Cooper educates and entertains, and gives the Hall-of-Fame pitcher his rightful place on baseball lovers’ book shelves”—The Inside Game; “nicely done”—Nine; “a real treat, a book about a legendary player whose team I’ve followed for 45 years written by an author whose work I’ve admired for 30. This is an authoritative, well-researched baseball book, recommended for anyone who truly loves the game.—Ken Paulson, editor USA Today; “Here is the ‘Old Redhead’ as only Brian Cooper can tell it. Little is known of Faber the man up until now. Mr. Cooper’s exhaustive research has uncovered a treasure trove of obscure and forgotten facts about an era of baseball history, a small Midwestern locale and its native son in this highly readable and praiseworthy biography.”—Richard Lindberg, White Sox historian and author of The White Sox Encyclopedia; “anyone with even a slight passion for America’s game will want to read Red Faber; I couldn’t put it down. A great read.”—Gary Dolphin, Sportscaster; “A great job of research and writing, full of humor and surprises. Hall-of-fame spitballer Red Faber’s long career is the story of baseball’s exuberant youth”—Robert Byrne, author.