Tom Stanton

TERROR IN THE CITY OF CHAMPIONS by Tom Stanton recounts Detroit as the city of champions, with three major sports (baseball, football and hockey) having championships in 1935, while in the shadows of the city during the same time, a ruthless, violent organization know as the Black Legion, was thriving and terrorizing the entire North Michigan region.
As a Detroit Tigers fan myself, I'll admit a special draw this book and perhaps I will also carry a bit of a bias in how much I enjoyed this book. Stanton approaches the study of this time in three ways: He looks at the sports teams, particularly the Tigers, and how they became the champions, from putting the right puzzle pieces together, to overcoming obstacles and finally to reaching the pinnacle of their respective leagues. Stanton also delves deeply into the beginnings of the Black Legion, how they recruited, who the identified leaders were, and recreated many of their crimes. The third facet of the book was how the sports champions and at the same time the Black Legion was woven into the culture of Detroit, and to a degree the rest of the country, in the 1930's.
Stanton detailed many of the Detroit Tigers during the time and a natural desire for them to succeed comes forth. It seems likes Stanton has a sweet spot for Mickey Cochrane, the catcher/manager of the 1935 teams and rightfully so, because he was a key figure for the Tigers due to his dual participation. In the end there is a sadness to see his decline after all time and effort he put into making the Tigers champions.
Stanton recreation of Black Legion events and actions are written so well that you forget that he wasn't there and that he used multiple sources to cobble together his best estimate as to what really happened. I also like how Stanton made a point of considering not just the leaders and members of the Black Legion that were dedicated to the cause, but he also looked at the reluctant participant, many of them who waffled and questioned their participation in such a scandalous and criminal group.
I would definitely recommend this book to fans of Detroit sports and readers of historical prominence. Also, if I ever travel to Detroit, I hope to have time to explore some of the city where a lot of the book takes place, especially the field where Tigers Stadium used to be.
Thank you to Rowman & Littlefield, Lyons Press, Tom Stanton, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!… (meer)

If you are into history of the depression years, sports and crime this is the riveting book for you. I am into two of those, history and crime though not sports and it was still riveting for me. Terror in the City of Champions opens with the arrival of Mickey Cochrane, a baseball star who roused the Great Depression’s hardest-hit city by leading the Tigers to the 1934 pennant. Not something the Tigers have become accustomed to. A year later he guided the team to its first championship. Within seven months the Lions and Red Wings follow in football and hockey—all while Joe Louis chased boxing’s heavyweight crown.

Amidst such glory, the Legion’s dreadful toll grew unchecked: staged “suicides,” bodies dumped along roadsides, high-profile assassination plots. Talkative Dayton Dean’s involvement would deepen as heroic Mickey’s Cochrane’s reputation would rise. But the ballplayer had his own demons, including a close friendship with Harry Bennett, Henry Ford’s brutal union buster.

Award-winning author Tom Stanton weaves a stunning tale of history, crime, and sports. Richly portraying 1930s America, Terror in the City of Champions features a pageant of colorful figures: iconic athletes, sanctimonious criminals, scheming industrial titans, a bigoted radio priest, a love-smitten celebrity couple, J. Edgar Hoover, and two future presidents, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. It is a riveting true story set at the confluence of hard luck, hope, victory, and violence.
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A beautiful book, especially if you grew up in the Detroit area in the 1960s & '70s, as I did (so did the author). Stanton captures the elysian ideal of baseball and, especially, of the cathedral that was Tiger Stadium. Reading the book makes me miss the park on The Corner more than ever.

Stanton pays homage to the saints whose miracles were performed there, especially the two whose exploits make them most revered among adherents of a certain age: Al Kaline and Ernie Harwell. But the overall message of this scripture is about fathers and sons, and how baseball helps them love each other.… (meer)