Review of "Forty Years a Giant"

As one of the last teams that was owned by a family in which the team was the primary source of income instead of a side venture, the New York and then San Francisco Giants were owned by the Stoneham family.  This book chronicles the time that Horace Stoneham ran the team.  Here is my review of "Forty Years a Giant."

RATING: 4 of 5 stars (very good)

REVIEW: At 32, Horace Stoneham became the youngest owner in Major League Baseball when he assumed control of the New York Giants after the passing of his father Charles.  For the next forty years, Horace would see the Giants through not only the ups and downs that most teams experience on the field, but also through two seismic shifts in the baseball industry - integration and the movement of Major League Baseball to the West Coast.  Horace was directly part of the latter and his role in that, as well as everything else related to the Giants, is told in this very good book by Steven Treder.

This is not a true biography, as there is not much written about Horace Stoneham's personal life outside of the Giants. In fact, there really is more about his father Charles' life outside of baseball in the first three chapters, leading up to when Horace takes over the club after his father's passing, than there is in the rest of the book about Horace.  This isn't to say that there isn't plenty of material about Horace in which the reader can get a good glimpse into what kind of person Horace Stoneham was - it's just that this perception will be made based on how he handled the Giants.

If one said Horace's life revolved around his baseball team, that would be accurate and hence why it is fair to have this book based mainly around Horace's interactions with the team. The reading about the Giants, both in New York and in San Francisco, is rich in detail and whenever a major decision is made affecting the team, Treder will include Horace Stoneham's involvement in that decision.  The best parts of the book in which this is done is when Horace made the decision to move the team west to San Francisco, when he made the decision to trade legendary center fielder Willie Mays to the New York Mets and when he was forced into selling the team because the team was close to bankruptcy - and this was just before free agency would drive up the salaries of players.  For each of these topics, Treder not only provides good information - at least as good as can be derived without being able to speak directly with sources - but also dispels some of the stories that have grown over the years.  

Most notable of these is that the story of Horace simply riding the coattails of Walter O'Malley in the move to the West Coast because O'Malley asked Stoneham to join the Dodgers in California is simply not true.  Long before O'Malley met with Horace, Stoneham had already looked into leaving New York as attendance was plummeting for the Giants at the Polo Grounds. He not only considered San Francisco, but also the Twin Cities in Minnesota before that meeting and simply said okay.  This was one of many passages about the Giants that made for very good reading.  

The team's success or lack thereof on the field for every year of play under Stoneham's ownership is covered as well.  Stoneham ran the team with treating those who remained loyal to the team with generosity, almost to a fault.  This is illustrated in the writing about his reverence to figures like Mel Ott and Willie Mays.  There were many questionable transactions made by Stoneham as well and the reasons that would seem to explain them (again, since everything obtained in this book is secondhand, there is no way to verify) are given in the text. A reader may not always agree with the conclusion or speculation provided by the author, but it doesn't diminish the work done to make this book an enjoyable read.  Fans of the Giants will especially be interested in this historical book on the team as well as those who enjoy reading baseball history books. 

I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. 

LINKS:  https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496224194/

https://www.amazon.com/Forty-Years-Giant-Horace-Stoneham/dp/1496224191/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1622394662&sr=8-1