Cellar Dwellers: The Worst Teams in Baseball History

In 1890, baseball’s Pittsburgh Alleghenys won a measly 23 games, losing 113. The Cleveland Spiders topped this record when they lost an astonishing 134 games in 1899. Over 100 years later, the 2003 Detroit Tigers stood apart as the only team in baseball history to lose 60 games before July in a season. These stories and more are told in Cellar Dwellers: The Worst Teams in Baseball History, a colorful tribute to the sport’s least successful clubs. Cellar Dwellers spans three centuries of professional baseball, recounting the seasons of those teams whose misadventures have largely been forgotten over time. Chapters not only cover the stories of the luckless teams, they also include reams of statistics and detailed player profiles of those who helped the clubs—and those who helped them fail. In addition to the Alleghenys, Spiders, and Tigers, the cellar dwellers of baseball include: 1904 and 1909 Washington Senators1916 Philadelphia Athletics1928 and 1941 Philadelphia Phillies1932 Boston Red Sox1935 Boston Braves1939 St. Louis Browns1952 Pittsburgh Pirates 1962 New York Mets While many books revel in the glories of teams whose exploits have become legendary, the stories found in this volume offer an engaging alternative to the thrill of victory. Embellished with comical and amusing anecdotes alongside historical perspectives, Cellar Dwellers will entertain baseball fans and fascinate those who love baseball history.

Table of Contents:
Preface Chapter 1 – 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys Chapter 2 – 1899 Cleveland Spiders Chapter 3 – 1904 Washington Senators Chapter 4 – 1909 Washington Senators Chapter 5 – 1916 Philadelphia Athletics Chapter 6 – 1928 Philadelphia Phillies Chapter 7 – 1932 Boston Red Sox Chapter 8 – 1935 Boston Braves Chapter 9 – 1939 St. Louis Browns Chapter 10 – 1941 Philadelphia Phillies Chapter 11 – 1952 Pittsburgh Pirates Chapter 12 – 1962 New York Mets Chapter 13 – 2003 Detroit Tigers Chapter 14 – Dishonorable Mention Appendix Bibliographical Notes

About the Author :
Jonathan Weeks is a lifelong baseball enthusiast and member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).

Review :
Cellar Dwellers: The Worst Teams in Baseball History, Jonathan Weeks’s imminently readable and informative book, provides an introductory look at the thirteen worst teams (defined by winning percentage) in major league history, discusses the historically horrendous season, and offers a few glimpses of the team’s best and worst players. ... Instead of providing a series of boring statistics and game scores to prove just how pathetic each team was, Weeks reconstructs insightful historical situations that help contextualize each team’s disastrous season. ... Well-written and thoroughly researched, Cellar Dwellers is ideal for the casual baseball fan or historian. Baseball enthusiast Jonathan Weeks has written a first book in a lively style accessible to fans ranging from Little Leaguers to members of the Society for American Baseball Research. ...Weeks introduces readers to useful print and online sources for baseball statistics and biographical materials about players and coaches, then provides for each chapter his list of primary sources, books, newspaper and magazine articles, and Websites. The index names players, coaches, and baseball stadiums. This work provides highly entertaining reading for sports fans in all types of libraries. Jonathan Weeks takes on the Hall of Losers in this cleverly written, well-researched book about baseball's all-time worst teams. I enjoyed the arsenal of amusing anecdotes and interesting stories. Thanks for bringing to life my 1952 Topps Pirates baseball cards—even though they were pathetic losers. A must read for baseball fans of all stripes, Cellar Dwellers: The Worst Teams in Baseball History brings to life a subject that has long needed to be put at center stage. This “best of the worst” collection of teams were much more than their sum won-loss totals that they accrued, a fact that author Jonathan Weeks brings to the forefront in glorious detail. Teams such as the 1932 Boston Red Sox, the 1952 Pirates and their ill fated distant cousins, the 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys, are spotlighted, along with many other hapless teams. Besides chronicling the actual day to day on-field futility, the author also delves into the inner workings of the various front offices, giving insight as to why they made their various decisions in regards to both player personnel and financial decisions. Weeks also gives insight into how the game was played during the 19th Century, where over the top, rowdy behavior on the field was considered to be the norm, rather than the exception. An added bonus is the author’s short and precise bios of various players, many of whom went on to great glory with other teams. This long overdue work proves once and for all that there is more to the National Pastime than pennants, Worlds Series and statistical analysis. All in all, Cellar Dwellers: The Worst Teams in Baseball History is a walk off Grand Slam that will both teach and entertain at the same time!