Rating: 
Summary: Great Book, Great Author
Review: Meticulously researched, and brilliantly realized, this is an excellent history of the early days of baseball, and a great account of Cy Young's career. I do agree with other reviewers that Cy Young's life had little flair or panache, and there are no secrets hidden in his closet that will shock you. He was just a great baseball player, and I believe Reed Browning gives one a quite accurate picture of what sort of person he was.
As well, Browning is able to build suspense both during a penant races within a given season, and within individual games Cy Young pitched. Considering they happened a hundred years ago, this is no minor task, and one that many other baseball books have failed at, notably, David Halberstam 'October 64' which never even gets around to talking about baseball.
This book is an accurate portrayal of Cy Young, and wonderful history of baseball around the turn of the century. Reed Browning was my advisor at Kenyon College and I eagerly purchased this book, ready to read it with an extremely critical eye. I assume that like most people he may have talked a hard line, but that the reality of his writing would show some flaws of research, or that flawless research would lead to a dull book. I was completely wrong. This is history as it should be written, with care and verve, but with an eye always on accuracy.
Rating: 
Summary: "Boring" book about an amazing "boring" pitcher
Review: THis book really is pretty boring, I have been an ardent baseball fan for over 50 years.Denton T. Young was a very boring person.My definition of the word is steady, hardworking,solid as a rock and honest as the day is long.I am sick and tired of reading about the Sammy Sosa,s and Kobe Bryant scandals. Boring is really good.
THis is a fascinating book in many ways.The author does the best possible to illuminate the man AND the times, no easy thing to do with so little material.Young got up at 5am and went to bed at 9, his favorite summer "hobbies" were chopping wood and digging for coal in the coal rich soil near his home in a tiny burg in Ohio.Poorly educated and a very simple man, "Cy" just got it done.Time after time after time. 511 wins .
THis book is really best for serious fans for much of it is the tedium of schedules,managers,other personalites of the times, number of wins etc etc etc.FOrtunatly,the author does uncover and write well about a simple, honest,quiet, hard working man who happened to have a great bent for throwing pitches.What is really missing is what should have been the soul of the book.What was he really like as a pitcher?How did he approach various hitters, what was his favorite pitch, when did he rely on his curve etc etc.This is all missing in the tedium of statistics.
When "Pee Wee" Reese, of DOdgers fame died a few years ago, Bob Feller said, "They don,t make men any better than Pee Wee Reese.Surely the same can be said for Denton T. Young. Surely most managers of today would build a forest for this man off season if "all" he could do was win 22 games a year and not be a lush,steroid popper or whatever.We would not have been.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice book, dull subject
Review: This well-researched, competently written biography suffers from one major flaw: its subject.Cy Young may have won more games than any pitcher in major league history, but that doesn't mean he led an especially interesting life. Browning does the best he can with the colorless, unreflective Young, and fans of turn-of-the-century baseball will enjoy this biography, but I can't really recommend it to the casual fan.
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