Ruth Hanford Morhard

MRS. MORHARD AND THE BOYS is the story of Josephine Morhard, a resilient mother in Cleveland, who in the 1930's and 1940's, created the first boys' baseball league. Finding something worthwhile and fun for her son to do, Morhard's vision quickly became a reality, and her boys' league was quickly embraced by the community, the city of Cleveland, and the country. She was resourceful, creative, and driven; three attributes that helped mold and shape her league and any and all boy's baseball leagues from then on.
The story of the woman who started boys' baseball is an intriguing topic for a book. The book, to my surprise, spends an excessive amount of time chronicling the life of Mrs.Morhard, and less than half the book deals with her creating the boys' baseball league in Cleveland. The creation of the league and the way Mrs.Morhard embraced creating the best league possible was fascinating reading. Her innovations were a pleasure to find out about and how other cities were inspired by her creation to start leagues themselves. Then quickly, the book finishes. The reader finds out about where many of the boys and the adults around the league ended up. The title and cover of the book lends itself to a story of beginnings of the boys' baseball, but disappointedly much of the book has nothing to do with baseball.
Mrs Ruth Hanford Morhard, the author, is a gifted writer who paints nice pictures with words and describes people quite well, but I just thought the focus of the story was misguided when comparing it to the title of the book.
Thank you to Kensington Books/Citadel, Ruth Hanford Morhard, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion!… (meer)