Major League baseball has had its share of controversial owners. But after reading "Chris Von der Ahe and the St. Louis Browns," I never thought I could meet a gent who could build a ballclub to prominence like Ted Turner, then break the team up quicker than Wayne Huzienga did with the Marlins. Von der Ahe also possessed the innovative streak of Charles O. Finley (what other owner, besides Chris, had a ball park with both a horse-race track and a "Shoot-the-Chutes" ride?), could fire a manager quicker than you can say "Steinbrenner," and may have known even less about the game than Marge Schott.

Tom Hetrick's biography vividly takes us to the wild and wooly days of late-19th century baseball, when 10 home runs could get you the home run crown, pitchers never heard the term "pitch count," and umpires had good days if they could go the entire game without getting pummeled. This is the milieu for German immigrant Von der Ahe, as we follow his rags (a modest grocer and back-of-the-store saloon keeper) to riches (real estate magnate and self-proclaimed "Boss President" of the 4-time American Association champion St. Louis Browns franchise) to flaming rags (scandal, prison, bankruptcy and his Browns' ownership wrested away from him) story.

Hetrick presents meticulous research on the largely obscure Von der Ahe. As a lover of baseball history, I liked his outstanding treatment into the history of the American Association, the league that, for ten years (1882-1891), challenged the established National League and ushered in the precursor of today's World Series. But this book is not just for "seamheads." Hetrick presents a rich portrait of St. Louis in its golden era. He also breathes life into the bombastic and often-outrageous Von der Ahe -- fractured English and all. I laughed out loud as Von der Ahe tells his team's press agent, Harry B. Martin, "Now you magke der mistake of drinkin [thinking] dat der beable [people] vish to read about dem bum ball players. Mardin, vot der American beable like to readt is aboudt me, Chris Von der Ahe." To this reader, "Der Poss Bresident" seems to have enough hot air to inflate a Zeppelin.

As biographies go, Tom's book is a home run. A lively and fast read, it is a great account of the game as it was played in the 19th century as well as a portrait of a common immigrant who became a great success -- only to allow that success to eventually destroy him. And don't forget, the next time you're at the ballpark with a cold beer, make a toast to Chris Von der Ahe - the man who put beer and baseball together.

This book is strong with data and valuable information collected from various journals and reports. Taking this into consideration a reader can find easy to understand information on the political, social, economic, legal, and structural aspects of the European electricity market (in the first part of the book). The second part of the book presents studies of markets in countries including France, the UK, Nordic countries, and Hungary (I think the publisher forgot about hungary..but it's in there). The only weakness I have noticed in this book is the presentation. Having numerous authors may have made it difficult to avoid repetitive analysis and redundancies. Some sections treat similar issues in similar manners while some other sections treat them in very different ways making it hard to find continuity through the whole book (actually through any part at all). Although the reader will want to start with part-one before attacking part-two, he will be able to read chapters in each part in any order. Overall, the topic of this book is so broad and complex that a reader can only expect a good bigger-picture understanding of the subject. The appendix section containing definitions makes this book a challenging but feasible venture for a beginner in the field.

This book is strong with data and valuable information collected from various journals and reports. Taking this into consideration a reader can find easy to understand information on the political, social, economic, legal, and structural aspects of the European electricity market (in the first part of the book). The second part of the book presents studies of markets in countries including France, the UK, Nordic countries, and Hungary (I think the publisher forgot about hungary..but it's in there). The only weakness I have noticed in this book is the presentation. Having numerous authors may have made it difficult to avoid repetitive analysis and frequent redundancies. Some sections treat similar issues in similar manners while some other sections treat them in very different ways making it hard to find continuity through the whole book (actually through any single part at all). Although the reader will want to start with part-one before attacking part-two, he will be able to read chapters in each part in any order. Overall, the topic of this book is so broad and complex that a reader can only expect a good bigger-picture understanding of the subject. The appendix section containing definitions makes this book a challenging but feasible venture for a beginner in the field while the references and links provided in this book offer resources for further studying.