Overview

Since the dawn of baseball disputes between players and management have always existed. A glorious period of diamond success and pennant glory occurred when Barney Dreyfuss owned the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1900 through 1932. During that time, the Pirates claimed six National League flags, appeared in four World Series, and won championship titles twice-in 1909 and 1925. After gaining full control of Pittsburgh's baseball organization in 1901, Dreyfuss acted as the supreme authority regarding all the club's affairs. Many talented players pulled on a Pirates uniform throughout the Barney Dreyfuss ownership period. Some of these all-star diamond performers fell out of favor with management through two baseball eras and soon found themselves packing their bags and moving on to another city. The list of stalwart players shown the door when Dreyfuss ruled his diamond empire included Rube Waddell, Jesse Tannehill, Jack Chesbro, Vic Willis, Al Mamaux, Rabbit Maranville, Babe Adams, Max Carey, Kiki Cuyler, Glenn Wright, and Dick Bartell. An ugly group of gamblers, stationing themselves at Exposition Park and Forbes Field, subjected certain players to their vile comments and disgusting verbal abuse. The actions of these unsavory individuals had a hand in the organization ridding itself of Kitty Bransfield, Claude Ritchey, and Bill Abstein because the constant taunting and heckling affected their performance. From Waddell to Bartell, Ronald T. Waldo shares why many of the greatest players in Pittsburgh Pirates history were traded or released during Barney Dreyfuss's tenure owning the team.

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Reviews

"""Between 1900 and 1932, iconic Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss was the architect of six NL championships and two World Series titles. While Dreyfuss always sought to put the best possible team on the field, it wasn't always easy being a Pirate. In Days of Reckoning, author Ronald T. Waldo thoroughly explains why some of the greatest players of all-time, including Jack Chesbro and Max Carey, were exiled from Pittsburgh. From Rube Waddell's erratic behavior to Kiki Cuyler's bitter dispute with management in 1927, Waldo dishes the dirt on the many epic disputes that helped shape the Pirates' destiny in the Deadball Era and beyond. This book is essential reading for Pittsburgh fans and enthusiasts of early-20th century baseball.""-Jonathan Weeks, Author of The Legend of the Mick: Stories and Reflections on Mickey Mantle ""The Pittsburgh Pirates of the early 20th century were an elite team in Major League Baseball. From 1900 to 1932, the Pirates won six National League pennants, plus World Series titles in 1909 and 1925 under the leadership of their owner, Barney Dreyfuss. Success for Pittsburgh also came at a price for many of its ballplayers. Over the years, many players came and went from the Pirates if they ran into trouble with management. There was no free agency back in the day, and ballplayers were nothing more than property to the owners, who could be bought and sold for a price. However, mistreating a beloved player by management ran afoul of the fans in Pittsburgh, who openly voiced their opinions against management's harsh treatment of their heroes. Even the press in Pittsburgh took sides on the issues between management and players' disputes, and the articles that appeared in the newspapers showed the public how the sports journalists thought of a particular situation. The Pirates were part of the Pittsburgh community, and anything that affected the team became an interest to the citizens of the ""Steel City."" In Days of Reckoning, Author Ronald Waldo brings to life the many ballplayers that graced the baseball diamond in Pittsburgh, and how these players helped shape the Pirates into proven winners over the years, as well as influencing the growth of the city of Pittsburgh in the early decades of the 20th century.""-Ian Kahanowitz, Author ""In Days of Reckoning Ronald Waldo unfolds the often unique and sometimes quirky chess moves that involved the players and front office personnel of the famed and fabled Pittsburgh Pirates organization during the first third of the twentieth century. Clearly well-researched, Mr. Waldo's presentation provides all the details but does so with an anecdotal edge that makes for an easy absorption of the transactional history as it went down. An entertaining and informative read.""-Arthur K. Miller, Noted Baseball Portrait Artist, and owner of Art of the Game - The Artworks of Arthur K. Miller"

Author Information

"Ronald T. Waldo is a historian and author who has written eight books on the subject of baseball history, with many devoted to examining the Deadball Era and the 1920s. A resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania his entire life, he graduated from Point Park University in the spring of 1983 with a Bachelor's Degree in journalism and communications. Following his love and passion for baseball history, Mr. Waldo's first book, titled Fred Clarke: A Biography of the Baseball Hall of Fame Player-Manager, was released in December 2010.Some of his other books include a biography about Hazen ""Kiki"" Cuyler, a compilation of stories connected to the life and career of Honus Wagner, and team-related works on the 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates, 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates, and 1938 Pittsburgh Pirates. Mr. Waldo's most recent book, published in April 2017, is titled Baseball's Roaring Twenties: A Decade of Legends, Characters, and Diamond Adventures.He also participated as a contributing author on the 2018 release, Unlucky 21: The Saddest Stories and Games in Pittsburgh Sports History, writing the chapter about the 1974-75 Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team titled ""History Gone Bad: Chico and His Men Ruin the Pittsburgh Penguins' 1975 Playoff Party.""A longtime member of the Society for American Baseball Research, each of his four books covering baseball's Deadball Era received nominations for the Larry Ritter Book Award by that organization's Deadball Era Committee. Besides being an avid baseball historian, Mr. Waldo also loves following current baseball, football, hockey, and soccer."

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