Iron Man McGinnity: A Baseball Biography

Don Doxsie. Man McGinnity: A Baseball Biography. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009. 214 Pp. Paper, $29.95. Back in the 1960s, a major-league star at the peak of his career would normally have been the subject of a book-length biography. For better or worse, that era is long gone. Contemporary baseball biographies often feature stars of much earlier vintage. This transformation reflects a number of movements in publishing, including the decline of hero journalism and the rise in academic standards in all areas of nonfiction literature, baseball included. Unlike many recent authors of baseball biographies, Don Doxsie is a journalist rather than a professional academician. As might be expected, his biography of New York Giants pitcher Joe McGinnity, the Iron Man, is rendered in a clean and economical style. And, given how many early twentieth-century stars have been profiled in book-length biographies in recent years, it's not surprising that McGinnity's time has come. Joe McGinnity was a midwestern coal miner whose native talent tor baseball made him a likely candidate to escape the mines and whose initiative and hard work led him to succeed. He boasted two full minor-league careers, one as a young man and the other after he left the majors in his late thirties. The first of those careers was singularly unimpressive given his subsequent major-league achievements. Doxsie plausibly credits McGinnity's eventual success as a pitcher to his lack of early triumphs. As a sub-.500 hurler with Kansas City in the Western Association in his midtwenties, McGinnity studied the unique underhand motion of Billy Rhines, a pitcher who had enjoyed major-league success in the 189os. McGinnity essentially copied Rhine's unorthodox motion, which allowed him to throw a variety of curves with less wear and tear on his right arm than is the lot of most breaking-ball pitchers. As a result, he became much more effective on the hill and proved able to pitch professionally into his midfifties. The picture Doxsie paints of McGinnity is that of a rough-hewn and industrious blue-collar type who represented midwestern America as it existed a century ago. He was a gentleman off the field but a no-holds-barred competitor on it. His success as a pitcher was notable, but he was less accomplished as a manager after his major-league days came to an end following the 19o8 season. He was reasonably adept at spotting talent, but too inflexible as a skipper to sustain the respect of his charges and too stubborn to adapt to changing circumstances. But he was a lifetime baseball man, and he never left the game for long. McGinnity's biographer is a diligent researcher and writer, but at times his writing reveals some ignorance of the conditions of baseball during the deadball period. …

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