Baseball and St. Louis go together like beer and brats, and the relationship between the city and sport began more than 130 years ago.
Chris Von der Ahe, a German grocer and beer-garden proprietor, risked his life savings in the 1880s, when he founded the franchise that would become today’s St. Louis Cardinals.
As author Edward Achorn describes in his newest book, Von der Ahe knew little about baseball but would become one of the most important and amusing figures in the game’s history.
Achorn is an editorial page editor with the Providence Journal in Rhode Island and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for distinguished commentary. The book is, “The Summer of Beer and Whiskey: How Brewers, Barkeeps, Rowdies, Immigrants, and a Wild Pennant Fight Made Baseball America’s Game.”
Host Don Marsh talked with Achorn about how Von der Ahe used a recipe of Sunday games, booze and cheap tickets to help revitalize the sport in St. Louis.
Related Event
Left Bank Books Presents Author Edward Achorn
Thursday, May 2, 2013
7:00 p.m.
Left Bank Books - Downtown, 321 North 10th
(314) 367-6731
info@left-bank.com
Follow St. Louis on the Air on Twitter - @STLonAir
