Before he was a skinflint owner whose business practices contributed to the poisonous events of 1919, Charles Comiskey was a successful manager, particularly with the American Association Browns. Jaffe identifies a consistency in Comiskey as a manager (and later as an owner) who built his clubs on workhorse control pitchers in front of superb fielders. In the development of baseball strategy in the 19th century, it is possible that Comiskey might have actually invented this strategy, which seems so self-evidently useful a century-plus later. We know a lot about Comiskey-the-owner; Jaffe adds to our knowledge of the on-field Comiskey.

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Chris Jaffe

Chris Jaffe (jaffechris@yahoo.com) is a regular contributor to The Hardball Times website. His first book, tentatively titled Evaluating Baseball's Managers, is expected to be published by McFarland later this year.