Victory Faust: The Rube Who Saved McGraw's Giants

to an extent, but it's still more than you'll find out about Charles Victor(y) Faust anywhere else. As with most baseball fans, I had been introduced to C. Victory Faust through Lawrence Ritter's "Glory Of Their Times." I had looked up his pitching record, thought it interesting but no more so than thousands of other players who had briefly touched the major leagues and then disappeared. Gabriel Schechter's book, though, adds a terrific story behind the man who pitched a slight amount in the big leagues, in the most unusual of circumstances. Schechter did a marvelous job of research on Faust, interweaving his story with the times, the personality of the people involved with Faust, and while there is still much mystery to Faust, we know enough about him and the times to know that his story could never take place today. This, besides the story, is a reason the biography is so interesting: 21st century baseball will never see someone like Charlie Faust. One other point of interest about this book: in Schechter's fine job of writing, one could imagine that this story would make one heck of a movie. A backwards bumpkin goes to a famous baseball team as a good luck charm, almost completes his destiny, is discarded by those who believed in him, doesn't understand why, etc. The book is definitely worth a reading (then imagine it in a movie context).

This book fills in many previously unanswered questions about a man who today would be considered disturbed, but during the 1911 baseball season he became a sensation in New York. It is an amazing tale of how a man with very limited skills acheived his delusional goal of pitching for the New York Giants. Victory Faust came to a sad end, but after reading this book you will never forget his brief career. A must read for the baseball researcher.

Rightfully so, baseball produces more great books than any other sport. Author Gabriel Schechter has provided us with a truly unique subject in Charley Faust, a Kansas farmer who visited a fortune teller who told him if he would join the New York Giants they would win the pennant. Ballplayers were terribly superstitious and manager John McGraw took him along with the team as a good luck charm during the 1911 season. These were the Giants of Mathewson, Marquard, Merkle, Meyers, and Snodgrass among others. I was aware of the basic details of the Charley Faust story, but it was very interesting to read in greater detail about this story in baseball history. The players humored Charley in regard to his pitching abilities, but Charley regarded himself as a legitimate pitcher. Charley did get to pitch near the end of the 1911 season which put him into the baseball record book with everyone else whoever played the game. Faust as a good luck charm, however, didn't last into the World Series against the Philadelphia Athletics of Connie Mack and his $100,000 infield which defeated the Giants. During 1912 Charley Faust became more of a pest than a good luck charm and he eventually drifted off to the state of Washington where he died in 1915 from tuberculosis. Anything about John McGraw's Giants is interesting reading, but to have a book about the Charley Faust story hits a subject that has been ignored until now. The author did a great deal of research on his subject and includes various colorful articles on great writers of the time such as Damom Runyon, Sid Mercer, and others. A casual fan with an interest in baseball history will enjoy it.

This book tells a deeply amusing and haunting story of fame, obsession and delusion -- on the part of Faust, the simple mascot who believed he was a ballplayer, and on that of the Giants, the team who egged him on for their own amusement and benefit.Schechter also gives us a richly detailed account of National League baseball in 1911. We see the players, the owners, and especially such reporters as Damon Runyon and Sid Mercer, as vividly as we see baseball's characters today.

Gabriel Schechter's "Victory Faust - The Rube Who Saved McGraw's Giants" explores the tale of one of baseball's oddest characters. The near mythical story of Charles "Victory" Faust, an unknown hayseed who went from the obscurity of a Kansas farm to the toast of the New York baseball world, is set forth in detail. Using newspaper accounts and considerable original research, Schechter has crafted a fascinating portrait of the sport during the period just before the first World War. It was a time and a game of innocence and superstition, filled with legends such as Giants' manager John McGraw and pitcher Christy Mathewson, when the "impossible" was possible. In the history of baseball no story is more improbable than that of "Victory" Faust, the hick who became a flesh and blood good luck charm for the New York Giants. The author is able to put the reader in a box seat to history and breathe life into Faust's touching quest to actually pitch in a big league game. This book provides a fascinating read for those interested in a glimpse into early 20th century America, fan or non-fan alike.