Analysis Of Allen Barra's 'The Immortals'

Allen Barra in “The Immortals,” analyses the history of five original baseball members of the Hall of Fame, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, and Ty Cobb. It wasn’t until 1939 that a museum opened up in Cooperstown, New York to honor the great ball players of all time. One of the greatest players, if not the greatest to ever suit up for a game was Babe Ruth. He started out as a left handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox’s and set pitching records that held up until the end of the twentieth century. Although Ruth was one of the best pitchers of his era, the Red Sox’s made him into a right fielder so he could play everyday because of his prowess at hitting. Ruth over his career hit 714 home runs and had a lifetime batting average of .342. The Red Sox’s were not

He played shortstop for the Pirates from 1900 to 1917. His lifetime batting average was .328 and his 1909 American tobacco baseball card was sold for $2.8 million dollars which is the highest ever paid for a baseball card. Walter Johnson, a country boy from Kansas joined the Washington Senators who today are known as the Washington Nationals in 1907. He was a great pitcher that people enjoyed to watch and see pitch. Johnson won 417 games over his twenty one year career and was considered the games “first real power pitcher” (Barra 59). Christy Mathewson was born in Factoryville, Pennsylvania in 1880. Mathewson was an all American football player and a graduate of Bucknell University. Although he had much love for football, the love he had for baseball was unconditional. He played seventeen years with the New York Giants and the Cincinnati Reds. In his career he won 373 games which was a huge deal. Mathewson served in the army during World War I where he developed tuberculosis. This killed him at the age of forty five in