Baseball

Somthing Like A War

The second inning introduces some of the most extraordinary individuals ever to play the game: Ty Cobb, the volatile, brilliant outfielder who may have been the greatest ball player of all time, but who was "possessed by the furies"; Walter Johnson, the modest farm boy with a fast ball so intimidating batters sometimes left the batter's box after only two strikes; Christy Mathewson, a college-educated pitcher so virtuous he was worshipped by schoolchildren as "the Christian gentleman"; and John McGraw, the brawling, unstoppable manager of the New York Giants who "took kids out of the coal mines and the wheat fields and made them walk and talk and chatter and play ball with the look of eagles."