Starred review from April 15, 2018
Sportswriter Franklin Pierce Adams was merely trying to fill an eight-line hole in a July 1910 newspaper column when he penned these long-remembered lines celebrating three Chicago Cub infielders phenomenally adept at turning a double play: Tinker to Evers to Chance. But Rapp recognizes how this trio filled a gap?in sports and in American culture?far larger than the one Adams had in view. Readers learn how the analytically minded Frank Selee brought Johnny Evers, Joe Tinker, and Frank Chance together as part of his ambitious effort to make Chicago's baseball team both more competitive against clubs from New York and Boston and more appealing to Chicagoans seeking uplifting entertainment. As Rapp delves into the strikingly different histories of these three acclaimed infielders, he shows just how much they embodied a maturing nation's social diversity. The compelling narrative not only details the feats these three achieved in helping establish a Cubs dynasty but also chronicles the metamorphosis of the new twentieth-century nation that embraced baseball as a game that reflected the urban strength developed in modern industry while also offering green-field comfort to city dwellers nostalgic for a rural past. A potent reminder of how America first fell in love with its national pastime.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)