One Day in September

On a crisp September afternoon in 1917, as the country waged war and the national pastime faced questions about its purpose, baseball paused to reconsider what it stood for. At Fenway Park, the game's greatest stars-many of them rivals, some near the end of their careers, others just emerging-took the field together in an exhibition played not for standings or championships, but for a colleague who had died, and for a cause larger than the game itself.
Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Tris Speaker, Walter Johnson, Connie Mack, and more. One newspaper called it "the greatest baseball show on earth."
What unfolded that day was more than a benefit or a curiosity. It was a moment of recognition among players, fans, and the sport's leaders that baseball could be something more than competition. It could be a shared stage. A public trust. A civic ritual capable of carrying the weight of a nation.

SCOTT D. REICH is a nationally acclaimed author, historian, attorney, and nonprofit leader whose work explores how Americans make meaning—in history, sport, and public life—especially in moments of uncertainty and change.

He is author of "The Power of Citizenship: Why JFK Matters to a New Generation" and "One Day in September: Baseball, Brotherhood, and the Birth of the All-Star Game." He is also host of the podcast Curveball, which explores life's unexpected turns and the resilience they demand; and founder and CEO of Believe in a Cure, a global nonprofit supporting the rare disease community, which includes his son.

His work and commentary have appeared on CNN, PBS, ABC News, CBS News, MS NOW, MLB Network, Morning Joe, The Today Show, and in The New York Times, People, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, Newsday, and across radio, podcasts, and other major publications.

Scott Reich's One Day in September is the best baseball book, the best history book, the best book period that I have read in a long while. Like Lawrence Ritter's The Glory of Their Times, it captures how baseball became "king" in its early days. Like David Halberstam's Summer of '49, it illuminates an epic moment in American life through the lens of sport. And like Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer, it evokes nostalgia not for sentimentality's sake, but as a reminder of the importance of community, service, and the civic virtues necessary to sustain both. Readers will enjoy—treasure—every chapter...Scott Reich joins an elite group of writers exploring the intersection of American sport, culture, and history.
— David Eisenhower, bestselling author of Eisenhower at War: 1943-1945

"As a long-ago Boston TV sportscaster, I've known of New England's first true chronicler of baseball—Tim Murnane—for decades. But until Scott Reich's extraordinary telling of the humanity that coalesced around his family after his tragic passing, I had never heard of the story of the Murnane All-Star game. This book features everybody from Babe Ruth to Shoeless Joe Jackson and even John L. Sullivan, and it is a true tapestry of baseball and American history."
— Keith Olbermann, Award-winning journalist and broadcaster

"When I opened this book, I expected the origins of baseball's early All-Star Games to be a story about executives, money, and the birth of the business side of the game. Instead, Scott D. Reich introduces us to a name most fans have never heard: A former player turned journalist whose untimely death inspired some of the greatest stars of the era to gather at baseball's most historic field. Through meticulous research and vivid storytelling, Reich uncovers a forgotten chapter of baseball history that feels both surprising and essential. By the final page, you'll wonder how this remarkable story remained untold for so long."
— Darren Rovell, Emmy Award-winning sports business reporter, ESPN & CNBC

A forgotten game, a remarkable cast, and a world at war. Scott Reich tells this story with the care it deserves: Ruth, Cobb, Jackson, Speaker and Johnson, all on the same field but playing for something larger than a pennant. You will wonder how such a glorious afternoon stayed buried so long.
— Rob Neyer, West Coast League commissioner and award-winning author

Scott Reich's One Day in September is a lovely, elegiac book, the story of one of the earliest all-star games, but played to provide for the family of a favorite ballplayer and sportswriter after his sudden demise. Lavishly illustrated, carefully researched, and affectionately told, it brings to life not only a game, but America and the game of baseball at a crossroads.
—Kevin Baker, author, The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City.