Edward Achorn

In a glowing review, The Washington Post describes Fifty-nine in ’84 as “an astonishing book about 19th-century baseball.”

Reviewer Sean Callahan writes: “Fifty-nine in ’84 is a romantic book, equal parts heroic quest, tragic tale and doomed love story.”

Callahan notes that Achorn explores Radbourn’s heroic performance of winning 59 games in a single season, as well as his whiskey-guzzling ways — and his notoriety as perhaps the first man in history captured on camera flashing the middle finger.

“The tragedy of Radbourn’s heroics was that, once that season ended, he never possessed the same dominance again,” Callahan adds.

“Off the field, however, Radbourn’s pitching performance may have won him the heart of Carrie Stanhope, a woman who, Achorn argues in the most gentlemanly way possible, was a prostitute or perhaps a madam in Providence. The pair eventually married, but Achorn makes the case that they were star-crossed lovers from the start.”

To read the full review, please click here