Part history, part mystery, Casway's book offers fascinating insights into baseball at the turn of the century and the tragic death of one of its superstars. -Stan Hochman, Columnist, Philadelphia Daily News
[I]n his fascinating and thoroughly researched book, Ed Delahanty in the Emerald Age of Baseball, Casway tells the story of a self-indulgent athlete who lived for the moment, and in the telling provides a concise history of the early Phillies during the game's transforming era. * Philadelphia Inquirer *
Casway's important and highly original book represents many years of thorough and dedicated research, thoughtful analysis and interpretation, and the author's intense interest in his subject. -Lawrence J. McCaffrey, Loyola University
Casway has written a fascinating, carefully researched biography of a long-neglected baseball hero that will appeal to scholars as well as general readers. Ed Delahanty in the Emerald Age of Baseball is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the culture and evolution of the national pastime at the turn of the century. -History
Meticulously researched and engagingly written, this is an informed and colorful account of the baseball career of one Ed Delahanty that succeeds in capturing the zeitgeist of the sport in late nineteenth-century America. Casway's narrative also provides occasional references to the backdrop of contemporary people and events that helped define this era of want and plenty during the formative years of professional baseball. -Thomas E. Hachey, University Professor of History and Executive Director, Center for Irish Programs, Boston College
Sad and compelling . . . this is a lucid examination of the 'behind the scenes' complexities of the national pasttime. . . . This is not an uplifting story, but it is essential for understanding how difficulties in a fledgling sport led to the unfortunate downfall of a great athlete. -ForeWord
The tragedy of Ed Delahanty, known in the 1890s and early 1900s as the King of Swat because of his hitting prowess, is fully explored in Jerrold Casway's excellent Ed Delahanty in the Emerald Age of Baseball. . . . Casway's biography is also a well-researched social history of Irish involvement in the national pastime. -Sacramento Bee
. . . a staggering work by historian Jerrold Casway from 2004 that may be the most overlooked great baseball book in recent years.-Oakland Tribune, April 8, 2006
... impressive and persuasive . . . Casway . . . shows us how baseball when it was evolving ... can help us better appreciate the joys and miseries of baseball today. -The Virginia Quarterly Review