"Deadball Trailblazers" Author Ronald Waldo, on the Sunbury Press Books Show!

Baseball's "Deadball Era" lasted from 1900 to 1919, so noted as Major League Baseball used a softer ball. In addition, the teams often played in stadiums with larger field surfaces, so games were won by timely hitting, bunting and strategy. Home runs were a rarity. 

During that period, a number of individual, single-season records were established, that are unlikely to be broken as the game has evolved. Ronald Waldo, author of eight books on baseball history, especially of the early 20th Century, highlights some of these in his new book for Sunbury Press, "Deadball Trailblazers: Single-Season Records of the Modern Era."

Many of these names will be known to baseball fans, if at least in passing: Napolean Lajoie's standout 1901 season, "Happy Jack" Chesbro's 41 wins, Ty Cobb's (then) record-breaking 96 stolen bases, and John "Chief" Wilson's 36 triples.

The tales and personalities are brought back to life by Waldo, which include Rube Waddell's brilliant 1904 season, along with instances of his erratic behavior. Then there were exercises in futility: Jack Nabors' 19 consecutive losses for a terrible Philadelphia A's team in 1916, and perhaps the most perplexing, John Gochnaur's 1903 record of 98 errors.

Ronald Waldo joins Lawrence Knorr on today's Sunbury Press Books Show to tell some of these stories, and look back at a different time in baseball, and American History. His other works include, "The 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates: Tragedy and Triumph," "The Battling Bucs of 1925," and biographies of old-time players Fred Clarke and Kiki Cuyler. Each of Waldo's preceding books on the Deadball Era has receive nominations for the Larry Ritter Book Award. He lives in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.