The history of the World Series can be just as interesting as the history of baseball itself. One common cliché in baseball circles is that if you watch the game long enough, you will see something you have never seen before. That was the case for me when reading this book on World Series stories.

I picked that phrase for this book because overall, it was a good read and the stories, while seeming to have the same format, were pretty interesting. What caught me by surprise was how many of these stories I have read in previous books. While that would not be a bad thing for a casual or new baseball reader, one who devours baseball books like I do will most likely have read most of these stories elsewhere. One of them, the story of Nippy Jones of the 1957 Milwaukee Braves and the “shoe polish” incident, was something I read about in a children’s baseball book.

Of course, Jones’ story and all of the others were written for adult readers and the research that went into the stories was very good. It was great to read about the Negro League World Series in 1942, the St. Louis Browns’ lone World Series appearance in 1944 and others about obscure players who had their best baseball moments in the World Series. Brian Doyle of the 1978 Yankees and David Freese of the 2011 Cardinals are examples of that kind of story in this book.

I would certainly recommend this book for those readers who have not read many baseball books but loves the game. The stories are good, the reading is light and easy and it’s a fun trip to some little known World Series lore.

I wish to thank Lyons Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

If you are a fan of baseball, especially Major League Baseball and the World Series, you will absolutely love this book. It's filled with some incredible stories that most people never knew. Those who did know about them may have passed them off as lore, fiction, or fables. There are some amazing stories of events that helped shaped the World Series that most have never explored. For the true Baseball purist, this book is a must read. For the casual fan, it will pique your interest from start to finish. Some of the names you will recognize and some you will be introduced to in this work. I highly recommend this to anyone who has any interest in the great American Pastime.

This is an incredible collection of stories about the Baseball World Series.

As a fairly new fan to baseball I really enjoyed reading and would love to readmorw.

This book discloses fascinating stories involving the World Series. It includes stories about players who were little known before the World Series but played a crucial role in a team's victory, as well as about a player who left the ballpark without permission in the middle of a game, and more. It also includes stories about things that affected the outcome of the World Series like shoe polish, the Spanish flu, and World War I. Even though the stories are fascinating, it can be hard for some to get through the book. It is extremely detailed and numerous baseball games are described down to the tiniest details. Thus, if you are a big fan of baseball statistics and reliving games in detail, you will enjoy it. However, if you are a casual fan of the game or too many statistics make your eyes gloss over and your head ache, you may find it difficult to get through.

To be honest, I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would and I believe a large part of that is attributable to me as a reader.

The authors have done a lot of research for these stories and do include a lot of detail, but at the same time each chapter is formulaic. Every chapter, as far as I can remember, begins in medias res, goes back in time to some point before the incident to establish context, discusses the incident…and then gives a 𝘙𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨 ending where we find out where every single person in the story ended up (and in some instances, these wrap ups take up more or the chapter than the story).

I will admit I did not completely know what to expect from this book, but anticipated it being along the lines of similar books by Peter Golenbock or Tyler Kepner, with interviews from the subjects providing more context to incidents and giving the book less of a Wikipedia feel. Unfortunately, per the bibliography, there were only seven interviews for the 18 chapters. I think the book suffers without these first-person (or expert) accounts.

Now granted, its a great book if your reader doesn’t know a lot about baseball and is trying to get to know more, but if you devour baseball media, a lot of this book is going to be reruns of things you already know. It wasn’t for me. It might be for you.

Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Lyons Press, Dave Brown, and Jeff Rodimer for the advanced reader copy of the book. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

Baseball can be a strange game. Weird things tend to happen, and then there are the personalities. I was a fan during the days of Mark Fidrych who used to talk to the baseball, and Fernando Valenzuela who used to look heavenward rather than where he was going to pitch the ball.

Shadows of Glory is the story of 18 World Series where unusual things happened. It spans more than a century of the game, so there are many changes along the way. Some of the stories I’d heard or witnessed first-hand. Others were more obscure.

The authors provide incredible context to the stories. Some of them go back decades to establish the setting for events that occur in a particular World Series. This is the case as the authors recount the Cubs finally breaking the “curse” and winning the series in 2016.

One of the stories is of how the Spanish Flu and World War I affected the 1918 Series. It was much different than our experience in 2020 and 2021 with the coronavirus. There was the pitcher who left the stadium mid-game to drive his pregnant wife to the hospital, and no one knew where he went. The call went out by radio and on television, but he stayed with her for the birth of his son. Fortunately, it didn’t come down to needing him to pitch, but the game did go into extra innings.

I knew of one notable shoe polish incident in the Mets’ 1969 World Series against the Baltimore Orioles. There was another, and for how it tied to the 1969 one, you’ll have to read.

Not all of the stories are quirky. I never knew that Babe Ruth held the record for the most shutout innings pitched in a World Series until Whitey Ford came along and broke it.

The authors don’t cover the more well-known World Series stories, such as the ball going through Bill Buckner’s legs in 1986 to give the Mets a Game 6 victory when the Red Sox were one out away from winning the series, or Bill Mazeroski’s Series-ending home run in 1960. They are brought up throughout the book, though, to compare to others.

Former player Mark Teixeira wrote the foreword, and he talks about the incident he was a part of where Cliff Lee had to hop on a subway amidst throngs of Yankee fans after he missed the team bus and got stuck in traffic, then went on to have a stellar game, striking out 10 with no walks and no earned runs.

The stories are great and the detail is here. I thought it could have been edited a bit more as the authors give readers just about every detail imaginable that pertains to these incidents, but they are a lot of fun to read regardless.

Shadows of Glory is a great read for baseball fans, especially those who appreciate the history of the game and some of the strange things that occur in the course of a World Series. I learned a few things along the way as well, and in watching Ken Burns’ Baseball as a prelude to this baseball season (something I do every spring), I recognized a number of the games from this book.

Shadows of Glory was an incredibly enjoyable and well-written collection of 18 stories that span across multiple World Series. I am a big baseball history fan, but they were almost all brand new to me, and the writers did an excellent job of providing context to each story with amazing detail. As someone who enjoys recounting obscure baseball knowledge, this book will add a few stories to my own repertoire. I would gladly pick up another volume of great, absorbing baseball tales from the authors.

Special Thanks to Lyons Press and Netgalley for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.