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MLB Historian Posts a Book Excerpt on his 'Our Game' Blog
John Thorn, the Official Historian for Major League Baseball, graciously opened up his "Our Game" blog today to run an excerpt from Tinker to Evers to Chance on the answer to the age-old trivia question: Who was the fourth member of the Cubs' famous infield? (Hint: There are two smart answers. Here's one. )
Thorn is the author of the seminal history of baseball's origins, Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game, available in paperback from Simon & Schuster. I highly recommend it — a fascinating tale of 19th century intrigue and religious chauvinism.
You may recognize Thorn as one of the on-camera talking heads in the 1994 Ken Burns documentary "Baseball," for which he served as senior creative consultant. In March 1911, he was named Official Baseball Historian for Major League Baseball, succeeding the late Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times baseball writer Jerome Holtzman.
John is an easy-going, ever gracious, and always accessible godhead in the baseball history firmament. He also posted this classic George Conlon photo in the blog that I had not seen before. It shows the confidence and "seize-the-moment" intensity of this great Cubs' third baseman. (That's Joe Tinker on deck in rear right, by the way.)
