The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns

by Peter Golenbock

Book Overview

No metropolis in America has more pure baseball spirit than St. Louis, Missouri. It's a love affair that began in 1874, when a band of local boosters raised $20,000 to start a professional ball club, and the honeymoon still isn't over. Now Peter Golenbock, the bestselling author and master of baseball oral history, has written another remarkable saga enriched by extensive and incomparable remembrances from the scores of players, managers, and executives...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380798808
• ISBN13: 9780380798803
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: It Books
• Length: 672 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A great read

An excellent overview of baseball in St.Louis. The author uses an oral history approach, often letting the major leaguers speak for themselves. Even at 600 pages, it's a quick, attention-grabbing read. A great read not only for fans of St. Louis baseball, but baseball fans in general.

A baseball town gets its due

Peter Golenbock is known for his oral histories of such teams as the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs and Brooklyn Dodgers, and this latest book on St. Louis baseball is a worthy addition to the collection. The Cardinals have a storied history, from Rogers Hornsby to Dizzy Dean, from Stan Musial to Bob Gibson, and from Lou Brock to Willie McGee. From a ragtag organization to one of the storied franchises in baseball, this book also details the people who owned and managed the Cards, such as Branch Rickey, Sam Breadon, Gussie Busch and Bing Devine. What makes The Spirit of St. Louis even more of a must-read for baseball fans are the sections devoted to the St. Louis Browns. The Browns were at one time the more popular St. Louis ballclub, and George Sisler was as good a player as any who played in St. Louis. Unfortunately, the Browns suffered through mediocrity, until 1944 when they won the pennant. (and played the Cardinals in the World Series!). The decline of the Browns culminating in owner Bill Veeck putting tiny Eddie Gaedel up to the plate is also of interest.

Cardinal fans will love this book

I admit I'm biased, I grew up in St. Louis and was treated to the great Cardinal teams of the 80's. There's no doubt. baseball fans will love this book, Golenbock does an incredible job of taking readers through the birth of both the Cardinals and Browns in St. Louis. My only criticism, the parts of the book on the Browns did tend to drag.

Not comprehensive, but a good read

This is the latest in a series of oral history books Peter Golenbock has written about baseball teams. It looks like this time he bit off more than he could chew. Golenbock tries to tackle the histories of both the St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Browns in one book. It would have been better if he would have split these into two books. He misses out on or glosses over several key events in Cardinal history (Musial's retirement, Torre's MVP are examples) as he tries to cram the histories of two teams in one book.

the best of golenbocks books

EXCELLENT.IF YOU ARE A CARDINALS FAN,OR A BASEBALL HISTORY BUFF(LIKE ME), YOU WILL LOVE THIS BOOK. I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE AUTHORS NEXT BOOK.I HOPE HE DOES ONE ON THE GIANTS.