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.

One Day in September by Scott D. Reich is a detailed and emotionally powerful account of one of the darkest moments in Olympic history, the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Games. The book focuses on the day members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists, and it explores not only the immediate horror of the event but also the wider failures, political tensions, and human tragedies surrounding it. Reich approaches the subject with seriousness and care, showing how an event meant to celebrate international unity and peace instead became a symbol of vulnerability, violence, and institutional failure.

The book centers on the events of September 5, 1972, when members of the Palestinian group Black September entered the Olympic Village in Munich and took Israeli athletes and coaches hostage. What makes this event so shocking is not only the brutality of the attack itself, but also the setting. The Olympics are supposed to represent peaceful competition and shared humanity, and Munich had especially hoped to present a modern, open, and welcoming image of Germany after the shadow of the Nazi past. Security at the Games was intentionally relaxed in part because organizers wanted to avoid any militarized atmosphere. That decision, however, proved disastrous. The attackers were able to enter the village with alarming ease, and what followed exposed the terrible consequences of being unprepared for such a threat.

Reich carefully recounts the sequence of the hostage crisis, showing how confusion, delay, and poor decision-making shaped the tragedy. The terrorists killed two Israelis during the initial assault and held the others captive while demanding the release of prisoners. As the crisis unfolded, the eyes of the world turned to Munich. Television coverage brought the event into homes across the globe, making it one of the first major international terrorist incidents to be experienced in real time by such a large audience. This media presence gave the event a disturbing immediacy and helped transform it into a global trauma. Reich likely emphasizes how public the crisis became, and how that public spectacle complicated the efforts to resolve it.

One of the most painful elements of the story is the incompetence of the rescue attempt. The West German authorities were not properly trained or equipped to handle a hostage situation of this kind, and their response was deeply flawed. Plans were improvised, communication was poor, and officials underestimated the number and determination of the attackers. Reich appears to give significant attention to these failures, not simply to assign blame, but to show how preventable mistakes contributed to the deaths of the hostages. The final rescue effort at Fürstenfeldbruck airbase ended in catastrophe, with all nine remaining Israeli hostages killed. The tragedy was not only the result of terrorism, but also of state unpreparedness and mismanagement.

The book also likely places the attack within its larger political and historical context. The early 1970s were marked by intense conflict in the Middle East, and Palestinian militancy had become a visible and violent force on the international stage. Reich probably explains that the Munich attack was not an isolated act of violence, but part of a broader strategy to gain attention for the Palestinian cause through dramatic and shocking acts. While providing this context, the book does not lose sight of the human cost. The victims were athletes, coaches, husbands, sons, and friends. Their identities mattered beyond the political symbolism attached to them, and a strong account of Munich must preserve that personal dimension.

A major strength of a book like this is its ability to humanize those involved. Reich seems interested not only in the political machinery and operational failures, but also in the individuals whose lives were forever changed. The Israeli athletes and coaches are not treated simply as names in a historical event. Their backgrounds, personalities, and dreams help readers understand what was lost. The families of the victims are also part of the story, especially in the long aftermath of grief, unanswered questions, and the struggle for recognition and justice. This personal dimension deepens the emotional power of the book and prevents it from becoming a purely procedural retelling.

Another important aspect of the story is the international reaction to the massacre and the moral questions it raised. The decision to continue the Olympic Games after a brief suspension remains one of the most controversial elements of the Munich story. For many, resuming the Games so soon after such horror seemed deeply inappropriate and revealed a desire to preserve the image of the event at the expense of genuine mourning. Reich likely examines this tension between symbolism and humanity. The Olympics are often spoken of in idealistic language, but Munich exposed how fragile those ideals could be when confronted by political violence and public relations concerns.

The book probably also addresses the long-term consequences of the attack. Munich changed the way the world thought about security at international events. It became a turning point in counterterrorism planning, intelligence sharing, and the protection of athletes, public officials, and civilians in high-profile settings. Governments could no longer assume that symbolic spaces such as the Olympics were immune from geopolitical violence. In that sense, the attack marked the beginning of a new era. Reich likely shows that its legacy extends far beyond the immediate tragedy, influencing policy, security culture, and global awareness of terrorism for decades afterward.

The emotional force of One Day in September comes from the combination of documentary detail and moral weight. This is not simply a historical reconstruction of a well-known attack. It is also a meditation on failure, memory, and the cost of political violence. The title itself suggests how one single day can alter lives, institutions, and history. A few hours in Munich changed the Olympic movement, intensified international tensions, and left a wound that would not easily heal. Reich seems to understand that the story must be told with both factual clarity and emotional seriousness, because it remains painful not only as history, but as memory.

Overall, One Day in September is a sobering and important book about terrorism, sport, politics, and human loss. Scott D. Reich appears to tell the story in a way that is both informative and deeply respectful, tracing the hostage crisis from its shocking beginning to its catastrophic end while never losing sight of the people at its center. The book reveals how ideals of peace and international unity were shattered by violence, and how poor leadership and lack of preparation made an already terrible situation even worse. More than just the story of an attack, it is the story of a global awakening to a new kind of threat, and of the individuals whose lives were stolen in the process. It is a painful but necessary reminder of how fragile safety can be, and how important memory is when confronting events that changed the world.