Long before the Red Sox "Impossible Dream" season, Boston's now nearly forgotten "other" team, the 1914 Boston Braves, performed a baseball "miracle" that resounds to this very day. The "Miracle Braves" were Boston's first "worst-to-first" winners of the World Series. Shortly after the turn of the previous century, the once mighty Braves had become a perennial member of the National League's second division. Preseason pundits didn't believe the 1914 team posed a meaningful threat to John McGraw's powerful New York Giants. During the first half of that campaign, Boston lived down to such expectations, taking up residence in the league's basement.Refusing to throw in the towel at the midseason mark, their leader, the pugnacious George Stallings, deftly manipulated his daily lineup and pitching staff to engineer a remarkable second-half climb in the standings all the way to first place. The team's winning momentum carried into the postseason, where the Braves swept Connie Mack's heralded Athletics and claimed the only World Championship ever won by Boston's National League entry. And for 100 years, the management, players, and fans of underperforming ball clubs have turned to the Miracle Braves to catch a glimmer of hope that such a midseason turnaround could be repeated. Through the collaborative efforts of a band of dedicated members of the Society for American Baseball Research, this benchmark accomplishment is richly revealed to the reader in The Miracle Braves of 1914: Boston's Original Worst-to-First World Series Champions. The essence of the "miracle" is captured through a comprehensive compendium of incisive biographies of the players and other figures associated with the team, with additional relevant research pieces on the season. After a journey through the pages of this book, the die-hard baseball fan will better understand why the call to "Wait Until Next Year" should never be voiced prematurely.Includes: FOREWORD by Bob BradyTHE BRAVESTed Cather by Jack V. MorrisGene Cocreham by Thomas AyersWilson Collins by Charlie WeatherbyJoe Connolly by Dennis AugerEnsign Cottrell by Peter CottrellDick Crutcher by Jerrod CotosmanGeorge Davis by Rory CostelloCharlie Deal by Charles F. FaberJosh Devore by Peter GordonOscar Dugey by Charlie WeatherbyJohnny Evers by David ShinerThe 1914 Evers-Zimmerman Incident 
and How the Tale Grew Taller Over 
the Years by Bob BradyThe Evers Ejection Record by 
Mark SternmanLarry Gilbert by Jack V. MorrisHank Gowdy by Carol McMains and Frank CeresiTommy Griffith by Chip GreeneOtto Hess by Gary HessTom Hughes by Greg ErionBill James by David JonesClarence Kraft by Jon DunkleDolf Luque by Peter BjarkmanLes Mann by Maurice BouchardRabbit Maranville by Dick LeydenBilly Martin by Bob JoelJack Martin by Charles F. FaberHerbie Moran by Charles F. FaberJim Murray by Jim ElfersHub Perdue by John SimpsonDick Rudolph by Dick LeydenButch Schmidt by Chip GreeneRed Smith by Charles F. FaberPaul Strand by Jack V. MorrisFred Tyler by John ShannahanLefty Tyler by Wayne McElreavyBert Whaling by Charles F. FaberGeorge "Possum" Whitted by Craig HardeeMANAGERGeorge Stallings by Martin KohoutCOACHFred Mitchell by Bill NowlinOWNERJim Gaffney by Rory CostelloThe Braves' A.B.C. by Ring Lardner1914 Boston Braves Timeline by Mike LynchA Stallings Anecdote1914 World Series by Mark Sternman"I Told You So" by O.R.C.The Rest of 1914 by Mike Lynch