Herb Pennock - by Keith Craig (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book tells the story of Hall of Fame pitcher Herb Pennock (1894-1948), considered one of the best left-handed pitchers in the history of the game. He pitched for the 1920s New York Yankees, won 241 games, and never lost in the World Series. Herb Pennock features interview...

Book Synopsis

This book tells the story of Hall of Fame pitcher Herb Pennock (1894-1948), considered one of the best left-handed pitchers in the history of the game. He pitched for the 1920s New York Yankees, won 241 games, and never lost in the World Series. Herb Pennock features interviews with family and friends and never-before-seen photographs.

Review Quotes

A welcome addition to any fans library is this book. It is a subject and player that in the past has been overlooked so there is not that much information out there about him. It looks at Pennock's stellar career for the pre-dynasty New York Yankees and the contributions he made to the game. Pennock came within four outs of being the first Pitcher to throw a World Series No-Hitter. In interviews with family and remaining friends of Pennock, the author paints a vivid picture of a great player and a well liked man.... This book was truly a welcomed learning experience for me and would add to any fans arsenal of baseball player knowledge.

An excellent work by Keith Craig, informative and exhaustive in recalling Herb Pennock's outstanding contributions to baseball, both as a pitcher and a team executive. This book is particularly enlightening in clearing Pennock's name from the later controversies that tarnished it unfairly.

Craig's approach to writing this biography is much like the man he wrote about -- methodical, purposeful and thoughtfully planned out. . . . Craig's biography of Pennock is balanced, and he addresses the good and the bad about the man. He did several interviews with members of Pennock's family and Kennett Square residents who knew the former baseball star.

To some extent, Herb Pennock was overshadowed by the fellow Hall of Famers who surrounded him. Discovered and nurtured by Connie Mack, he would become the ace of a team where bats, not arms, were prized--the Murderers' Row Yankees of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Like the pitches he threw so well, his ultimate legacy can be difficult to decipher. Lauded as a gentleman throughout a 240-win career, Pennock was the Phillies GM when late-life charges of racism clouded his reputation and possibly shortened his life. In his readable and richly detailed new biography of the man, Herb Pennock: Baseball's Faultless Pitcher, author Keith Craig has cut through the fog surrounding those accusations and in the process reshaped our understanding of both the incident and the man.

About the Author

Keith Craig is a freelance writer, formerly of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. He is the author of New Garden Township (2010) and has written for regional magazines such as Kennett Square Today, West Chester Today, and Newark Life, as well as the weekly newspaper of Chester County, Pa.